A Walk on the Wild Side
by iheartGibbs
Summary: NCIS meets the preternatural.  This story is 50 chapters and is complete. The sequel has been started and is posted, but is still incomplete.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Maggie tossed one last glance over her shoulder before darting into the alley. The smells of the street overwhelmed her. Over the stench of rotting food in the dumpster, she could still detect the scent of the one she pursued. She could track better than any other agent she knew, but in this form there was no one who could even come close. She pulled her lips back into a snarl, a low growl barely audible in the foggy night. The man leapt from hiding; tossing a large piece of debris as he made a break for the back door of an abandoned warehouse. "Git!" he whispered loudly in an attempt to scare her, just as she pounced.

Where did she go? Noah ran, breathlessly, into the alley. Just as he was about to look elsewhere, he heard the sounds of a struggle. He burst through the door to find their prime suspect pinned in the corner. He breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of the large copper-haired wolf that had cornered him. "Here, girl," he called to the wolf, treating her like the dog he hoped the man had assumed her to be. Maggie moved cautiously to Noah's side, her eyes never leaving the suspect. She watched as her partner made the arrest, hating not being able to participate further, but knowing she couldn't risk revealing her identity.

"Come on, lovey," Noah teased, as he led her to the backseat of the car. Great. She was going to get to ride in the back with a serial killer. She snapped at Noah as he laid his hand on her right haunch, pushing her into the car. Smart-alec.

---

Alone. Finally. Maggie made sure no one was near the car, as she shifted back to her human form. The process was much less painful than most stories would lead you to believe; but, true to most werewolf lore, she was always naked, sleepy and hungry after the change. She leaned against the back seat of Noah's car, and stretched her hand into the passenger seat to retrieve her clothes. "Jerk," she whispered under her breath. She tossed her long, red-gold hair out of her face as she shimmied into her straight, black pencil skirt. She gave the panty hose a dirty look. Forget those. She pulled on her bra, and buttoned her white pin-striped blouse. She slipped into her sling black sandals, grabbed her briefcase and headed to the door without even glancing in the mirror.

---

"Can I help you, ma'am", a handsome man with striking eyes greeted Maggie as she stepped off the elevator into the NCIS offices.

"Well, I certainly hope so. I'm Special Agent Maggie Sullivan. My partner, Noah Diamond, just brought a suspect in for questioning," she replied, her voice showing a hint of an Irish accent. She spotted Noah in an office at the top of stairs, and moved past the man.

"Oh, Agent Sullivan," he said, clearly attempting to keep her from walking up the stairs to the Director's office where she could see her partner. "I'm Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, and... Agent Sullivan…you can't… Darn it." He shook his head, as he watched her go past the secretary's desk and enter the Director's office unannounced.

"Well, that was a big success, Tony."

"Shut up, Ziva. I didn't see you trying to help the situation."

"Pardon me if I thought you could keep one lady from going up the stairs. My mistake," Ziva quipped. "Next time, I'll offer my assistance."

"What would you have done? Tackle her? Use some of your special interrogation methods on her? She's a fellow agent, genius," he responded, not meaning to take his frustration out on her, but not being able to resist rising to the argument.

"Whatever works," she said slyly, leaning a hip against a fellow agent's desk. "Isn't that right, McGee?"

"Hey, don't bring me into this," the other man replied.

"Shut up, Probie," Tony said, slapping him on the back of the head.

"Hey! I didn't even say anything," he protested.

"But you wanted to," Tony replied.

"DiNozzo!!" A loud bellow came from the office upstairs.

"Gotta go," Tony said, sprinting up the steps two at a time.

---

To say their first meeting did not go well was an understatement. Maggie's entrance into the meeting taking place in NCIS Director's Shepard's office was greeted with a chorus of frustrated looks and long stares. Fortunately, Noah stepped in to make introductions as a way to explain her presence.

"I'm sure Agent Sullivan is very accomplished, but that doesn't change the fact that I don't want or need anyone else on my team," an extremely attractive, silver-haired man said in a low, but somehow threatening voice.

"Noah; Maggie; we appreciate your cooperation in this investigation. If you could please step outside the office, I need to speak with Agent Gibbs in private," Director Shepard said diplomatically. "Tony, if you could escort Agents Diamond and Sullivan downstairs, we shouldn't be long. Thanks," she said dismissively.

Tony stood at the door as Noah and Maggie stepped out, and then closed it behind him.

"Jethro," Shepard said disapprovingly, "sometimes it falls on me to make certain decisions that you don't like. I'm the director of NCIS, and your superior."

"Jenny," Gibbs replied, shaking his head, "I am well aware of your… position. This is my team. I should have some input…"

"Not this time," Shepard interjected. "I'm sorry, Gibbs, but the order came from above me. I'm sure you'll all work well together."

"I'm sure," Gibbs said under his breath. "If that's all, I have a suspect to interrogate," he stormed out of the office without waiting for a response.

---

"Sorry we got off to such a rough start," Tony said, leading the agents down the stairs.

"No worries," Maggie smiled. "I'm sorry for rushing off like that." She flashed DiNozzo her most stunning smile. Noah shook his head at his partner. Did she have to flirt with everyone?

"This is Ziva David," Tony said, indicating the lovely Israeli woman sitting, watching with interest.

"A pleasure to meet you," Noah said, taking her by the hand, giving Maggie a sideways glance.

"Oh please," Maggie muttered under her breath. "He thinks he's charming," she said to Ziva. "I'm Maggie Sullivan, nice to meet you."

"Uh-huh," Ziva said, her hand still held in Noah's, their eyes locked.

"I'd be careful looking into his eyes, Ziva," Maggie warned. "He's like Dracula with the ladies."

"Bitch," he mumbled inaudibly under his breath. Well, inaudible to a normal person. Maggie chuckled and held her hand out to McGee.

"Maggie Sullivan," she smiled sweetly.

"Timothy McGee," he said, returning her greeting.

"Now that we've taken care of introductions," Tony said, steering Maggie away from McGee's desk and toward his, "maybe you could brief us on the situation upstairs."

"Clyde Barnes. We have reason to believe that he is the man who has been ritually killing female Navy officers for the past six years," Noah stated matter-of-factly. "The problem is, we don't have any evidence or reliable witnesses," he added, emphasizing the word reliable, and gaining a chuckle from Maggie.

"Wait," Tony interrupted. "If there were Navy officers being murdered, we would know about it. That's what we do."

"And that's why we're here," Maggie added.

"If this has somehow been kept under wraps and off our radar for six years, it's no wonder Gibbs is pissed," Tony added, frustrated.

"The deaths have been purported as by natural causes, and their similarities weren't apparent at first glance," Noah attempted to explain.

"Still, they should have been investigated by NCIS," Tony challenged. "Who exactly are you, and how did you get pulled into this?"

"We're federal agents with NPID, a top-secret government organization that investigates umm… unusual events. Sort of like the X-Files, only not fiction," Maggie explained, as if what she said didn't sound completely insane. "You know… vampires, werewolves… things that go bump in the night...??" Maggie trailed off at the look on the faces of the other agents.

"Those things are fiction," Ziva scoffed. "Tony, I think we are being Pinked."

"It's 'Punked', and I think they are serious," Tony added in disbelief.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Gibbs!" a beautiful young woman with dark pigtails exclaimed, rushing to embrace Gibbs as he entered the forensics lab. "To what do I owe this unexpected visit? Wait! Was there something…" she rushed to her workstation and began frantically tapping keys.

"You're fine, Abby," Gibbs said, smiling. "I'm just here to talk."

"Wow, I feel special," Abby said, leaning up to kiss him on the cheek.

"What can you tell me about vampires?" Gibbs asked, almost embarrassed. Abby searched his look, wondering whether to tell the truth or spout the fiction most of the world believed.

"What exactly are you asking?" Abby asked, fishing for more information. Gibbs leveled a look at her that spoke volumes without words. "Oh, of course. Well, there are lots of theories about vampires and other creatures of the night, but most of them are just stories."

"Most of them?" Gibbs continued to question.

"Right." Abby spun around in her chair and began tapping keys. "I've prepared some information for you in the event a situation ever came up. You see, there are preternatural beings and they do live among us..."

"And you never felt the need to share this information with me because…?"

"Because I didn't think we would ever need it," Abby answered. "Gibbs, they aren't evil. They're just people. And they're a very exclusive group. They don't want to risk exposure. They have nothing to gain from one of their own going on some sort of killing spree. The fact is, I've never even heard of an actual murder being committed by a preternatural creature, outside of fiction."

"Are you saying that vampires don't drink human blood?" he asked, frustrated.

"Well, of course they do…" Abby said, seeing where the conversation was going. "But they can only feed from someone who is willing. And they don't kill people by drinking their blood." She spun around in her chair to face him. "I knew this guy one time…"

"Abs, I just want to know the facts," Gibbs interrupted.

"Right." Abby retrieved the document from her printer. "Here you go! Everything you ever wanted to know about the preternatural. Let me know if you have any questions!" she shouted to Gibbs back, as he was already leaving the room.

---

"I think we should wait for Gibbs," Tony protested. Noah gave him a long look.

"I'm not waiting," he said, leaving no room for argument.

"I think I hate that guy," Tony said, after Noah entered the interrogation room. Maggie chucked.

"You're just jealous, Tony," Ziva said, watching to see how the newcomer will choose to interrogate the suspect.

"What's to be jealous of, Ziva? He's a tough-guy wannabe with a bad attitude and no authority," Tony said, frustrated.

"Wannabe?" Ziva questioned. "Somehow, I don't think so."

They watched as Agent Diamond sat at the other side of the table and just watched Mr. Barnes with a very intense look. It appeared he was just waiting him out or making him nervous, both of which can be very effective interrogation techniques.

"Does he really think that will work with this guy?" Tony asked, incredulously. "Gibbs couldn't even get him to crack."

"Just think, Tony, if this doesn't work, I get to try," Ziva said, with a knowing smile.

"Don't kill him, Ziva, just make him talk," Tony warned.

"I don't leave marks, Tony," Ziva replied, "usually."

The suspect had become visibly uncomfortable, and was sweating and shifting in his seat.

"Here we go," Maggie said, smiling.

The team watched, mouths agape, as Clyde Barnes confessed to each murder one by one, including how he had made each of the murders look as if the perpetrator was a vampire.

"Wait a minute," McGee questioned. "I thought you said the deaths were assumed to be from natural causes?"

"They were after we finished the cover up," Maggie responded, eyebrow raised. Noticing all eyes were on her, she continued. "You can see why we couldn't let this information get out. The general public isn't ready to be aware of the existence of vampires. Modern fiction has warped the idea of the preternatural into something dark and evil. Given, it is something the world in general has no knowledge of, but that doesn't make it evil. We would be hard-pressed to convince the world of the truth about these people."

---

Gibbs grabbed his fourth cup of coffee of the day and headed for his desk with the printout Abby had given him. He was having a difficult time wrapping his mind around the idea of all this. His world had always revolved around what could be proven, what evidence he could see, what Ducky and Abby could prove and what he felt in his gut. All he felt in his gut now was uneasiness. He didn't like being on the outside. Sure, he was the first to admit he was lacking in knowledge of certain things like technology and forensics, but that's why you have people like Tim and Abby on your team. But this… this was too much for him. He took a moment to peruse the information, for about the fiftieth time.

**PRETERNATURAL BEINGS**

**Kinds of Beings**

Vampires

Werewolves

Ghosts

Seers

**Vampires**

Vampires drink blood to survive. They are stronger than humans, but not generally faster. They live forever, or until they are executed. Vampires have different telepathic abilities, which vary from person to person. Most exhibit pheromones for physical attraction to the opposite sex. They can be killed only in any of the following ways: burned or decapitated. A vampire can only drink from a human who is willing. They typically surround themselves with an entourage of companions, usually of the opposite sex, for feeding. Marks left from a vampire bite fade quickly, usually within ten to twelve hours. A new vampire is made when a human pledges secrecy, is introduced to the ways and customs of vampires and lives for a minimum two years with a vampire mentor as a human companion. Once the human dies, the vampire mentor can make the human a vampire by raising him telepathically. The human retains his memories and personality, and takes on the form of the stage of human life of his or her choice. No person can be made a vampire against his will.

Common myths about vampires include: Sunlight issues (they can walk in the day like anyone else). They sleep in coffins (some do, but only because they want to). A stake through the heart will kill them. They don't like garlic (they can eat or drink whatever they want). Crosses and holy water are good wards against them (Vampires aren't demonic spirits reviving the dead. They aren't evil in and of themselves. These items have no effect.) They make new vampires with bites.

**Werewolves**

Werewolves can change from human to wolf form and back at will. They have extremely enhanced senses of smell, hearing and sight in both forms, but especially in wolf form. They are much stronger than humans, but only in wolf form. They are typically tired after changing forms. They age very slowly; the average life span of a werewolf is about 700 years. They experience rapid healing and regeneration, but can be killed in the same manner as a normal human. Lycanthropy is inherited. New werewolves are born, not "made". Werewolves are raised in family groups. They can first change forms within two years of puberty. The actual age varies on a case by case basis.

Common myths about werewolves include: they eat people (most werewolves don't eat while in wolf form at all). The change is affected by moon phases (there is nothing related to the moon in the life of a werewolf. They can change at will, but are never required to change.) They take on the personalities of wolves. They live like wolves in packs, fighting for alpha leadership and hunting animals in the woods. They make new werewolves with attacks. Silver bullets are needed to kill them. (You can kill a werewolf by any kind of immediate kill shot. Most werewolves don't die from illness, disease or non-fatal wounds as they heal very quickly.) Werewolves have to struggle against a natural bloodlust and fighting instinct (changing into wolf form does not ascribe the traits of a wolf to the werewolf. They still have the mind and emotions.)

**Ghosts**

Ghosts live in a place to which they were closely tied before death. They are visible to any preternatural being, or certain humans who are sensitive to ghosts. They are there because something has not been finished, or because they choose to be. They can walk through walls or teleport at will, but it must be somewhere they were familiar with during life. They cannot touch a human without consent. Ghosts cannot knock over, pick up or in any way interact with a tangible object. Not everyone who dies becomes a ghost, and it isn't really known why.

Common myths about ghosts include: They are being kept from permanent rest (they are usually content, as they choose the place where they live).

**Seers**

Seers can sense other beings of any kind. They can communicate with beings of any kind, usually telepathically with ghosts, vampires or other seers. They can enter the dreams of others with consent, or under extreme circumstances. This ability is inherited and cannot be transferred.

As there isn't a lot of lore surrounding seers, there aren't many common myths.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Noah and Maggie hesitated outside of Abby's lab, sensing the truth before walking through the doors. She was a seer.

"She says to stop stalling," Noah said, laughing softly.

"Telepaths," Maggie grumbled under her breath. She stifled a yawn as she made her way into the forensics lab.

"You must be Agents Diamond and Sullivan. I'm Abby," she smiled.

"Maggie," Maggie said, returning Abby's smile. "And call him Noah," she added, tossing a silly look over her shoulder. Abby chuckled.

"Happy to meet you both," she replied.

"Nice place you have here," Noah drawled, walking slowly around the room. He had an energy about him that seem to fill the space before he took each step.

"It's not much, but I call it home," Abby said cheerfully. "Look, I don't think we should dodge the issue here, but I don't know if I'm comfortable sitting down and having a nice long chat either," she said, finally refusing to ignore the elephant in the room. "I know about NPID. I actually considered working with your agency before taking the job here. We clearly know about each other. How much do Gibbs and the director know?"

"How much do we know about what, Abs?" Gibbs asked, gifting her with a Caf-Pow! He nodded to the others, "Diamond; Sullivan."

"Gibbs! I didn't see you come in," Abby said, smiling sweetly.

"Spill it," Gibbs demanded.

"I wondered if you had been fully briefed on the details of the case against Clyde Barnes. I know how much you hate being in the dark and…" Abby rambled in response.

"Abby," Gibbs warned, stopping her with a look.

"Okay, if you must know I was gossiping with the new agents about the rumors I've heard," Abby admitted, blushing. "I heard they were coming to stay here at NCIS as special liaisons with NPID, at least for a while."

"I don't know where you get your information," Gibbs said, "but you're right, as usual. Agents Diamond and Sullivan are going to be here for a while, whether we need them or not." He left the lab as abruptly as he had arrived.

Abby smiled, recognizing the expression on Maggie's face. "That's our Gibbs," Abby said. "He's one of a kind."

"I'll say," Maggie said, still able to see the man's incredible backside in her mind.

Noah rolled his eyes. 'Great, more competition,' he thought to himself. 'I heard that,' Abby projected into his thoughts. He had almost forgotten. He would have to be more careful around here.

"Hey, Abby," McGee said, but stopped short when he realized she had company. "Oh, sorry to interrupt."

"Never a problem," Abby said, giving him one of her famous smiles. "Whatcha' need?"

"Umm.. well," he began.

"Noah, I think we should head back upstairs," Maggie said, leading her partner back out of the lab.

"Whatever," he said, smirking at Abby on his way out. 'McGee's a total geek', he thought to himself. 'Hey!' Abby again intruded his thoughts. 'That's MY McGee you're talking about.' 'Your McGee?' he questioned. 'Yeah, he just doesn't know it yet.' He chucked to himself as he and Maggie got onto the elevator.

---

Maggie tore her eyes back to her computer screen. She was having a hard time not staring. Special Agent Gibbs had this quality about him that she couldn't explain. She was accustomed to feeling a magnetic physical attraction to someone, because she spent a lot of time with vampires. They are very literally attractive, and they can't help it. But Gibbs was the first normal man she had ever felt this intense attraction for, and she couldn't explain it. Not that the man was normal by any stretch of the imagination. As her mind began conjuring up images of his incredible body, she found herself staring, once again. Lord, she needed help. She stood and crossed the room, turning her back on Gibbs, hoping this would help.

"So, McGee, do you have any advice as to where I could get a place around here?" Maggie asked him, smiling.

"What are you looking for, what's your price range, how permanent…?" McGee began asking questions.

"Well, I am currently living on my boat, but it's a commute of almost two hours, with traffic. I've been staying in a hotel since I've been in town. I'm not really fond of small places, but I certainly don't need a house. I think a townhouse might suit me well. Money is not really a concern."

"I have a question," Tony interjected. "Why ask Probie instead of me?"

"Because he's dressed in designer label clothing and you're wearing a shirt that you've spilled your lunch on," she responded, teasingly. Ziva laughed in response.

"I did not…" Tony began unbuttoning his shirt when he realized she was right. "That's why I keep a spare," he said giving her a wink as he reached for his other shirt.

"Get a shirt on, DiNozzo," Gibbs said, smacking him on the back of the head. "Does every female agent we work with have to see you with your shirt off?" he asked.

"Sorry boss," Tony said, quickly pulling on his shirt.

"Like I said before, you are always welcome to stay with me," Noah said to Maggie, a sexy look in his eye.

"Uh-uh," Maggie shook her head definitively, "too crowded."

"Do you have a large family," Ziva asked, curiously.

"More like a harem," Maggie quipped, giving Noah a sideways glance.

"What's this about a harem?" Tony asked, with genuine interest.

"There's always room for one more," Noah said, with a sly grin. Tony was giving him a curious look, as if he didn't know whether to hate him or admire him. Noah moved his glance to Ziva, catching her eyes with his.

"We've got a dead Marine," Gibbs interrupted, hanging up the phone. "Let's go," he said, after stating the address. "Ziva, you're with me. Tony; McGee; bring the others with you," he said, motioning to agents Diamond and Sullivan with a head nod, as he and Ziva disappeared into the elevator.

"My Lord, that man is sexy," Maggie said, without thinking.

"Rule number 12," Tony responded, "never date a co-worker."

"O God, did I say that out loud?" Maggie asked, blushing. All three guys gave her level stares.

"Let's roll," Tony said, leading them outside.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"What we have here is a situation much like one I studied one summer in Oslo, Mr. Palmer," an older gentleman relayed with a pronounced accent, leaning over the body found at the crime scene.

"You mean, you've seen this before," the younger man replied incredulously.

"Well, not this kind of situation, exactly. I was referring to another female cadaver with similar feet. If you'll note, Mr. Palmer, she has webbed toes. It's caused by a recessive gene, and one you don't see often these days. I trust you will…"

"I trust you have information for me, Ducky," Gibbs interrupted, impatiently.

"I'm afraid not, Jethro, we only just got the body on the table. As I've never seen anything like this before, we're going to need a bit more time," Ducky began.

"Time is not a luxury we can afford, Ducky. How much more time?" Gibbs demanded.

"I can estimate the time of death between 30 and 27 hours ago. I was able to isolate some fibers of an unidentified nature…"

"Get those to Abby," Gibbs interrupted, nodding to Palmer. "Call me when you have something," he called over his shoulder as he left.

"Will do, Jethro, will do," Ducky replied under his breath, in a lyrical fashion.

---

"Diamond, what do you have?" Gibbs demanded, not expecting much.

"Her name is Pamela Gareth, sir," Noah replied quickly. "Sullivan just took her to interrogation." He continued, seeing Gibbs confused expression. "We caught a break this morning. The culprit was still at the scene. I followed her thought trail until we located her. By the time she fled the scene, Agent Sullivan had her dead to rights. She tracked her down in a matter of hours, sir," he explained.

"She tracked her," Gibbs asked, skeptically.

"Yes, sir," Noah repeated. "We were unable to reach you on your cell, so we called the information in to the Director. I suppose we still need to learn the way things are done around here," he apologized.

"You think?" Gibbs asked, sarcastically, and slapped him on the back of head. "Good work," he added.

"McGee!" Gibbs shouted. "Just because we have the suspect in hand doesn't mean we don't need all the ins and outs of how and why. Ducky has a lead; go help Abby."

"On it, boss," he answered.

---

Gibbs walked directly into MTAC. "When are you going to start being straight with me?" he asked Jenny, frustrated.

"I told you, Jethro, that Agents Sullivan and Diamond are uniquely qualified to assist your team. Each has an extensive background and strong familiarity with the preternatural. They have been working with NPID for years, and have reputations for solving cases and apprehending those responsible very quickly."

"Yes, but you didn't say they had strong tracking skills, and that they were good profilers," he added. "This is information I could have used going into that case. Fortunately, everything is wrapped up nice and tidy. Abby and McGee finished putting the final pieces together just a bit ago. That, with Ms. Gareth's confession and Ziva's research, should close this case. Tony is finishing up the final report."

"See," she said with a smile. "That should make you happy."

"It's too fast," Gibbs said, uncomfortably. "I don't understand it."

"You will," Jenny promised. "You'll get used to them. I think they're fitting in nicely around here."

"I'm sure," he added, leaving the room. 'Years?' he thought to himself. She's only twenty-six years old, according to her file. How long could she have been an agent?

---

"Earth to Tony," Abby said, waving her hand in front of his face. "Rough night?" she asked, wagging her eyebrows suspiciously.

"Hardly," Tony muttered.

"He's out of sorts this morning," Ziva said, laughing. "Apparently he had a reservation last night, and it was taken away at the last moment for a celebrity guest – McGee." She continued to laugh.

"Oh come on, he wrote some seedy novel, he's not a celebrity for crying out loud," Tony complained. "Totally ruined my date," he added.

"At least you had a date," McGee said. "I was meeting my agent about my next book deal."

Abby gave him a long glace, 'You could have a date if you'd just ask me!' she thought.

'Maybe you should ask him?' Noah replied in her mind.

'Yeah right, I think I scare him,' she added, her eyes still on McGee.

Noah appeared to be searching McGee's face for a sign of interest, 'Oh, he's interested.'

"Do I have something on my face?" McGee asked, uncomfortable with everyone staring. Abby and Noah just continued to smile at him. Abby turned and looked at Noah, who cocked an eyebrow in challenge.

'What the heck,' she thought. Abby sat on McGee's desk and leaned across toward him. He stared at her confused, starting to breathe a little funny.

"Umm… Abby?" he questioned. She grabbed his head in both her hands, leaned into him and kissed him deeply.

"Oh God," Tony groaned. "I think Hell just froze over – I'm jealous of McGee!"

Abby pulled away, finally, from Tim.

"Do you want one, Tony," she asked, smiling at him.

"Bring it on, baby," he said, exaggerating a lip pucker. Abby laughed, Ziva snorted, McGee was still blushing and Noah just rolled his eyes. Abby walked over to Tony and planted a quick peck on his mouth. "Little tease," Tony said, grinning.

"Sorry Tony," she said, flipping around. "This was supposed to be about me showing Tim how I feel. I never intended to open a kissing booth." She stuck her tongue out at him.

"Promises, promises," he replied flirtatiously.

"You wish," said Abby, having gone to stand by McGee. "So, are you going to ask me out now, or do I have to drop more hints?" she asked him.

"You can drop me a hint anytime, if that's how it works," Noah said, enjoying McGee's discomfort.

"You stay out of this," Abby said to him, turning back to McGee. "So…"

"Well…" McGee stammered, "I mean, I thought you didn't…" he continued, "I didn't know…"

"So now you know," Abby said, shaking her head. "Come on, Tim, don't leave me hanging like this!" she said in a loud whisper, making everyone chuckle. When he still didn't respond, she turned away, her face falling with disappointment. "I guess you don't…" her voice trailed off hurtfully. She looked like an abused little puppy. "God, how could I have been so wrong," she said, stepping onto the elevator.

"Go after her, moron," Noah said. "You're totally in love with her, how could you just let her do that without…"

"How do you know my feelings for her," McGee interrupted.

"I'm a mind reader, Tim, didn't you know that," Noah responded. Everyone looked at him incredulously. It dawned on Noah that Director Shepard may not have told the rest of the team what he and Maggie were. He grinned, knowing that Maggie thought they knew. He could hardly wait until the first time she tipped her hand and freaked them out. He chuckled. Seeing his grin, the others assumed he was joking.

"It's hardly a secret, Tim," Ziva added. "We all see how you look at her."

"If you don't go after her, I will kick your…," Tony threatened, still not believing Abby was actually hot for this guy.

"But rule #12," McGee started.

"Rules were made to be broken, Probie, get your butt down there now!" Tony said, laughing at how quickly McGee shot for the elevator.

"I guess love is in the water," Ziva said.

"Love is in the air, Ziva," Tony corrected. "When lots of people are doing the same thing you say 'something must be in the water', but 'love is in the air'."

"Whatever, Tony," Ziva said, frustrated. "English is not my first, second, third, fourth, fifth or sixth language," she justified to Noah.

"Mine either," he replied with a wink. "But I've had longer to work on mine," he added.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Maggie looked around and realized this was the first time she had been alone at her desk since she came to NCIS almost a month ago. Well, almost alone.

"You must be Kate," Maggie said to the lovely, dark-haired lady sitting in Tony's chair. She rose and crossed the room, holding her hand out, "it's a pleasure to meet you. I've seen you around, of course, but this is the first time I've been alone with you."

Kate grasped her hand with hers and smiled, "It is so nice to actually talk to someone besides Abby. Don't get me wrong, she's an amazing friend and she has been a godsend since my death…"

"But it isn't the same," Maggie finished for her.

"You got that right," Kate said, sighing. "It was bizarre at first – seeing without being seen. I mean, they could all see me right after the incident, but only Abby since. Not Tony," she added, almost sadly. "I keep hoping that someday he will see me and we can finally talk. We had so much unfinished between us…" she trailed off, lost in memories.

"What do you think of the changes since you've been here?" Maggie asked.

"Director Shepard has shown herself to be very good at her job, although I think she's still hung up on Gibbs. I don't know much about you and Noah yet, no offense."

"None taken," Maggie said, grinning. "And Ziva?" she questioned.

"Are you kidding?" Kate said. "She's the one who avenged my death. I owe her a lot."

"And you don't feel threatened by her?" Maggie asked, hoping she wasn't crossing a line.

"Not a bit," Kate chuckled. "Tony doesn't love her. She doesn't love him. And she's been a good friend to him – he needed that with me gone."

"I like her, too," Maggie added. "She has a lot of spirit and a great sense of humor." They sat in silence for a few moments. "So, do you just follow him around? Not to be rude, but I don't know how I would handle your situation," Maggie questioned.

"I used to follow him as much as could. I even used to sleep beside him. Then I realized he couldn't see me, no matter how hard I tried. I gave up for a while. Then he started dating Jeanne. Thank God he got a clue and finally broke it off with her. I was afraid, for a while, that he would marry her."

Their conversation came to an unexpected halt, as Tony, Ziva and McGee stepped off the elevator.

"Maggie," Tim said amiably, "we were just looking for you. We're heading out for a couple of drinks to celebrate Ziva's birthday. Wanna join us?"

"Sure," she said, with an unnoticed wink and wave to Kate. "Where's Abby?"

"She's meeting us there," he answered, as they grabbed their things and headed out.

---

Agent Noah Diamond shook his head, lost in thought. He had been working with Agent Sullivan for twelve years. He had thought himself in love with her for at least ten of those years. While he knew she was attracted to him, he had never seen her act the way she had been since she began working with Agent Gibbs. He was beginning to think that she wasn't simply "protesting too much".

Now he was supposed to go meet all his co-workers for drinks. He knew he had a reputation to uphold, so he would need to take at least two of the girls. They had such a strong bond, he and his companions. He never really got to develop long-term romantic relationships with non-companions. Women were territorial, and didn't usually take too kindly to his living arrangements. Maggie always teased him. He offered to let her be the only woman in his life, but she was right when she admitted there was no way she could sustain a 600-year-old vampire alone. It was his torch to bear; one of the many downsides to living forever.

It was Ziva David's birthday. 'Now that is a sexy woman,' he thought, smiling. He only hoped bringing Molly and Daphne didn't put her off too much. He had definite plans for Ms. David. He crossed to the credenza and picked up the gift he had purchased for her. It was a lovely platinum pendant; a star of David with diamonds at each of the six points. He hoped it wasn't too much this early in their friendship.

---

"Gibbs!" Abby shouted, smiling, and scooted about ten inches further from McGee. "I'm so glad you came!" Gibbs gave a sideways smile.

"Do you honestly think I don't know you and McGee are here together, Abs?" he asked.

"Boss, I…," McGee began.

"Save it, Tim," Gibbs said, "it's okay. Better than having her mooning over you all the time like before," he added, taking a drink from the ice cold longneck the waitress had handed him.

"Mooning?!" Abby exclaimed. "I never…"

"Kidding, Abs," Gibbs interjected. He nodded to the others in turn, "Tony; Maggie; Ziva, Happy Birthday," he said, handing her a small, navy blue gift bag.

"Thank you, Gibbs," Ziva said, surprised. She opened the bag to find a framed photograph of herself, McGee and DiNozzo. It was taken just after Gibbs returned from his temporary retirement from NCIS. "It's perfect," she said with a smile. Gibbs nodded in response, sliding into the booth next to Maggie. She hoped he didn't notice her change in breathing.

"Noah, you made it," Maggie said, noting the arrival of agent Diamond, a supermodel-type woman on each arm. "Daphne and… Margo?" she asked. Noah glared at her.

"This is Molly," he said, indicating the six-foot blonde on his right, "and this is Daphne." Daphne tossed her long dark hair behind her slim shoulders and glared at Maggie.

"His girls don't like me much," she explained to the others.

"Happy Birthday, Ziva," he said, catching her eyes with his. When she pulled the box from Tiffany out of the gift bag, you could have heard the collective gasp from across the room, even if you weren't a werewolf. Maggie shook her head in disapproval.

Noah was beginning to think he had done too much for the gift until he saw Ziva's face when the opened the box. "Oh my God," she cried. "That is so beautiful." Noah smiled. "But it's too much; I couldn't possibly…"

"Nonsense," he interrupted. "I have more money than Bill Gates, and I had this made especially for you. Please…" he began, and then trailed off as their eyes met. She could see how much he didn't want her to reject his gift.

"Thank you, Noah," she said softly.

"You're welcome," he replied with a wink. "So, is there room here for a couple more?" He handed his "girls" into the seat beside Abby, then sat down next to Gibbs, forcing him to have to practically sit on Maggie's lap. She contemplated how she could kill him. Even vampires could be killed, you know. She shifted uncomfortably, blushing when she had to keep her right hand either on Gibbs' leg or around his shoulders to fit in the seat. Her right breast was pressed against his side, and she couldn't keep the blush off her cheeks. She was definitely going to slay herself a vampire later.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Tony sat in silence, except for the sound of his keyboard keys tapping. He loved the mornings when no one else was at work. Ziva was an early riser, but spent her mornings running.

But it made him miss Kate all the more. They had some of their best conversations in the mornings before everyone else arrived in the office; except when he was running late because he'd been out the night before. He chuckled to himself. Dating wasn't fun anymore, without torturing Kate about it the next day. He'd realized too late that he loved her. Oh, he always knew he wanted her, but didn't know it was the real thing until she was gone.

Now, he wanted a life with her more than anything, and she wasn't here. Life and death weren't fair sometimes. When he first lost her, he imagined she was still there. Then he stopped feeling her. He supposed, now, that was the reason he was so easily drawn into Jeanne. When he first met her he thought she was so much like Kate. But when she started pushing him into a commitment he wasn't ready for, he saw his infatuation for what it was: misplaced.

Kate was it for him. Now she was gone. He felt cheated; condemned to live without the love of his life. She had been taken away by a cruel, vengeful man before he ever got a chance to realize the depths of his feelings, let alone share them with her. He rose from his chair and began to pace around the empty office.

"Kate, I miss you so much," he said aloud to the empty room.

"I miss you too, Tony," she replied, desperately. "I wish you could hear me."

"Kate?" Tony said, spinning around. Kate could hardly believe what she was seeing after all this time…

"I'm here, Tony," she said, a single tear falling down her cheek. "Can you see me?" she asked.

"Kate?" he questioned again, unable to trust his senses. "How…?"

"Ask Abby or Maggie, they'll explain it, I just want a hug," she said, so happy and not willing to waste even a moment of their time.

"You mean, I can touch you?" he asked, incredulously.

"If you're willing," she said, holding her hand out to him. He reached out, carefully at first, still not wanting to trust what he was seeing. When their hands touched, Kate's face flooded with all the love she felt for him. She smiled at him, her heart in her eyes.

"Oh dear Lord," Tony said, pulling her into his embrace.

"What took you so long?" Kate asked, into his ear. "I've been here every day, just willing you to believe."

"I'm here, now," he said quietly. "Good luck getting rid of me."

---

Running was so exhilarating, Ziva thought, as she continued her run. Her mind kept wandering back to her date with Noah the night before. Talk about exhilarating. She smiled. She had suspected for some time that he was a vampire, and was very pleased that he had opened that part of his life to her. He had told her everything, and then promised her he had not and would not try to use his mind to seduce her. She didn't know what to expect when he took her home with him the night before, but the truth was much different than what she had expected.

Noah lived in a mansion in the countryside, almost an hour outside the city. He had stables and horses, as well as servants. But the atmosphere was very bright, almost cheery; not at all what you would expect from a creature of the night. She knew about the role companions would play in his life, but was surprised that they lived more like house guests. He had explained to her that his house had fifteen bedrooms, and most of them were used. He provided for them, and they "provided for" him. He even had a cat in the house. That was about as far from the stereotype that she could imagine. She chuckled to herself, although she didn't slow her stride.

She hadn't gone home with him intending to sleep with him. She chuckled. I guess you couldn't call what they did sleeping. Last night broke about every record she could think of sexually, at least all her personal records. She smiled, remembering his smile, the feel of his hands on her body, his skin against hers, his mouth… She shook her head, breaking the memory. She was beginning to understand why Gibbs made Rule #12. At this rate, she had no idea how she could work next to him. This was going to be an interesting adventure, but one she very much anticipating.

---

Maggie swung into the elevator, on her way up from seeing Abby. Just as the elevator doors closed, Gibbs hopped on.

"Going up?" he asked, smiling. Maggie returned his smile, and continued to watch him after he turned back to face the elevator door. Gibbs reached down and hit the emergency stop. He turned around, leaning one arm against the wall behind her. His face was only inches away. She could smell sawdust, the coffee on his breath and beneath that… him. She met his eyes.

"Let's get one thing straight," he said, seriously. "I think you're a great agent. You have been a lot of help on these last cases. But if we are going to work together you are going to have to stop looking at me like that."

Maggie swallowed. She had so hoped he hadn't noticed her interest. "Like what?" she asked, feigning innocence.

Gibbs smiled, knowingly. "Like you're hungry, and I'm dinner," he answered, almost flirtatiously. Her face flashed red. Gibbs started to feel a hint of guilt, thinking he had embarrassed her, until he noticed the anger in her eyes.

Maggie ducked under his arm and turned to face him, full of fury. "I will never understand people! You find out someone is a little bit different than you are, and you immediately think they want to eat you?! What kind of person do you think I am? So, I can change into a wolf, and suddenly I'm scary?? I find that very insulting, Agent Gibbs! And I will have you know, the only thing I was thinking about was SEX!!" Maggie shouted, her eyes flashing and her chest heaving with breaths.

Gibbs took a step back, confused. When he realized what she had said, he threw his head back and laughed out loud. Maggie shot him a sideways glance, her long eyelashes almost hiding her huge, green eyes. "Wait… you didn't know?" she asked him, softly.

"No," he answered, chuckling. He reached out to tuck a lock of her long red-gold hair behind her ear. "I would never hurt your feelings on purpose." He met her eyes. "But I'm serious about you needing to find a way to work with me without the heavy sighs and long glances." He turned and restarted the elevator. "I have a rule about that," he added.

"Yeah, I know, Rule #12, never date a co-worker," Maggie recited, exasperated.

Gibbs smiled, "Yep."

Maggie hesitated a moment, then said, "I don't need to date; a one-night stand would be fine for me." She gave him a sexy grin. Gibbs laughed out loud, again, just as the elevator doors opened.

At the sound of his laughter, NCIS Director Jenny Shepard turned and watched as Gibbs stepped aside and let a mischievous-looking Maggie step off the elevator before him. Her thoughts drifted back to the days when he was so much more to her. Paris. Her memories were bittersweet. There is no time in her life that even comes close to how happy she was with Jethro. And then, the betrayal. She grimaced. If only she could have told him what was going on… Now she began to wonder if she would ever get the chance.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"Come on, people, let's get a move on," Gibbs said, rattling off an address. "McGee, you're with me. Tony; Ziva; Maggie; meet us there. Noah, the director needs to see you," he paused, grabbing his coffee. "Get there as soon as you can, Diamond," he added, rushing to the elevator.

Noah took the stairs two at a time, and then knocked on Director Shepard's door.

"Come in," she called. "Have a seat, Agent Diamond, we need to talk."

"Yes ma'am," he answered, taking the seat across from her desk. She met his eyes, and smiled.

"Thank you for coming; I know you have a crime scene to get to," she said. "I wanted to speak with you and Agent Sullivan openly about something. Gibbs would only let me have time with one of you in the middle of an investigation, so…"

"What did you need?" he asked, curiously.

"When you were first transferred here, NPID briefed me on the nature of your experiences with the preternatural," she explained. He nodded in understanding. "I decided not to share that personal information with the team at that time. Now that you and Agent Sullivan have settled in and found a place in our NCIS team, I think it is time we disclosed the information to the rest of the team."

Noah nodded, "We were under the impression the team would be briefed upon our arrival. I'm surprised you waited as long as you have."

"I didn't want to share your 'secrets', so to speak," she added, "until I knew for certain you would be staying. Others may not realize it, but I am very protective of my team," she said seriously. She paused for a moment for effect. "I'll arrange a conference ASAP," she said smiling. "Thank you for your time."

"Thank you, Director," he said, rising to leave. "Let me know if there's anything you need." He winked on his way out the door, causing her to laugh.

She shook her head, thinking of how well these two fit in here at NCIS. She had wondered if Diamond and DiNozzo would butt heads, but they seemed to have developed a grudging respect for one another. Maggie and Abby had struck up such a fast friendship; the rest of the team couldn't help but love her as well. All in all, she couldn't imagine better additions to the team than Noah and Maggie.

---

"So, things are going well with Tony?" Abby asked Kate. They hadn't spent as much time together since Abby had been dating Tim and Tony was finally 'seeing' Kate.

"Oh, yes," she said, her face glowing. "Except…" she said, mournfully "I'm trying to figure out when to tell him it can't last forever."

"Awwww, sweetie, come here," Abby said, embracing her friend. "Do you have any idea how long you can stay?" she asked.

"It's not like I have a guidebook," Kate laughed. "I've spoken to others like me, and they tell me that once I make things right, it's never much longer." She shook her head. "It's going to be like losing me all over again," she said, thinking of Tony. Tears streamed down her cheeks.

"Aw, no it won't, hun," Abby said, rubbing her back. "I think the worst thing for Tony was that you never said you loved each other. Now you've said the words, you've talked through everything, you've made love…" she said, nudging her friend with her elbow and wagging her eyebrows.

"Stop it, Abby," Kate said, giggling through her tears.

"I'm just saying, it will be easier this time, as long as you give him time to prepare for it," Abby said matter-of-factly.

"Oh, sweetie, you always make me feel better," Kate said, hugging her friend.

"Is this a private party, or can anyone join," DiNozzo asked, entering the lab. "What's wrong, babe?" he asked, kissing Kate on the forehead.

"We need to talk," Kate said seriously. "Tonight," she added, patting him on the thigh. "Get to work, DiNozzo," she said, in her best Gibbs impression.

"On it, Boss," he responded, stealing a kiss. He turned to Abby, who was watching them, smiling, with her head cocked to the side. "McGee is uploading some info for you and the forensics from the scene are here," he said, indicating the bag he brought in with him. "You might want to hurry," he added, "Gibbs is in one of those 'moods'. Hopefully Ducky will have the bullet fragments soon, as well."

"Thanks for the heads up, Tony," Abby said, kissing him on the cheek. "Now get outta here," she slapped him on the butt.

---

Maggie cocked her head to the side, listening. She had followed the suspect's trail a long way, and had definitely located the place he had been living. The entire place smelled of him. The house seemed deserted. She began wishing one of the others had been able to keep up with her. It was difficult to search a location on all fours. She was fortunate to find an open window. Her tail swished as she made her way from corner to corner, searching for some clue to the suspect's identity. She heard a car pulling up outside. He was home, and she was alone. She made her way to the back bedroom and jumped back out the window through which she had entered. She made a break for the tree line; she would have to come back later with backup.

---

"Where is she, Diamond?" Gibbs demanded.

"I don't know, boss" he responded. "When she starts tracking a suspect, I usually lose her. She's very fast, you know," he explained.

"I thought you had some way of staying in touch with her," Gibbs said, frustrated.

"She'll be fine," Noah answered reassuringly. "She always is." Just as he finished speaking the words, the elevator opened and Maggie stepped out, wearing nothing but a child's t-shirt that said "Princess" across the front with the matching pink shorts. To say the clothes were too small was more than an understatement. Noah laughed out loud. The others didn't know how to react.

"Sorry," Maggie said, blushing, not bothering to explain. "I'll just go change…" She grabbed a change of clothes from her desk.

"Wait…" Gibbs said before she could go to the bathroom to change.

"Yes sir?" she asked.

"What did you find?" he questioned, frustrated at having to ask. Maggie blushed, again.

"I found the house where he has been living. I was looking for a clue to his identity when someone pulled into the driveway. I had to leave quickly to keep from being spotted. People tend to shoot first, and then ask questions, if you know what I mean," she explained.

"The address?" he continued pulling information from her.

"Oh, here you go," Maggie said, jotting everything she could remember down on paper. She included the address, the layout of the house and the make and model of the vehicle that pulled up as she was leaving.

"Good job," Gibbs said. "Now go change clothes," he said with a sideways smile.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"Kate, is something going on?" DiNozzo asked when he reached his apartment that evening.

"Things are perfect," she said, smiling. "But, Tony, things aren't going to be like this forever," she began. She motioned to the place next to her on his couch. "Sit down for a minute."

Tony sat, allowing her to direct him for a moment. He looked at her questioningly. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"I'm dead, Tony," she said, shaking her head. "We can't be together forever, no matter how much we want it."

"What are you saying, Kate?" Tony said, raising his voice. "Why are you even here if you don't get to stay? Why did we bother…"

"Because," she interrupted, a smile shining through the tears that had begun to fall down her face, "because you couldn't move on until you got the opportunity to resolve your feelings for me."

Tony shook his head in denial. "Nothing is resolved, Kate," he said vehemently. "Nothing is resolved. I love you. I've never said that to anyone. I LOVE YOU?! Do you hear me? I'm not going to stop. My feelings are not resolved, by any means, they are just beginning!" He stopped when he realized how hard she was crying. "I'm sorry, babe, but I won't let you leave me again."

"You don't have a choice, Tony!" she shouted. "Neither do I," she said, shaking her head. "The choice was taken away when I was shot. BANG! Dead, Tony!" she shouted, more upset than he had ever seen her. "I'm dead, Tony. What part can you not understand?" She paused for a moment, shaking with emotion. "You couldn't have seriously thought we were going to have a happy ending?" her voice went soft, her eyes pleading with him to understand. Tony wouldn't take his hands off her. He kept stroking her face and hair. He was crying, unashamed.

"Kate," his voice broke. "I can't lose you again, I can't," he cried, pulling her into his arms. He held her tightly until both their tears had begun to subside. He pulled back, brushed the tears from her cheeks and kissed her softly on the mouth. "There has to be a way," he said determinably.

"If there is, I don't know it," Kate said, resigned to the fact that Tony would have to fight this to live with himself. "I'll do some checking, but I don't think there's some guy up there handing out second chances," she quipped.

"If there is, we'll find him," Tony said. "No matter what it takes."

---

Timothy McGee was a lucky man, and he knew it. He sighed, watching Abby sleep. This amazing woman, who he had loved for so long, actually loved him. Even after almost two months of dating, he couldn't get used to the feeling that came over him when he awoke next to her in the mornings. It was like the sun came out and his heart smiled. Once he would rise early and spend his mornings writing, reading or watching the news. Not anymore. Abby liked to sleep later than he did, and watching her was his favorite thing to do. Well, almost… He smiled thinking of how blessed he was to be the man in her life. He leaned down and placed a sweet kiss on her brow, and then attempted to get out of bed without waking her. He liked to have breakfast ready when she got out of the shower. But as much as she liked to sleep, she was a very light sleeper.

"Is it morning?" she asked, pulling the covers over her head as if to ward off light, even though the sun had not yet risen.

"Not if you don't want it to be," he said, pulling the curtains a little tighter. "I was just going to grab a shower and start breakfast. Want to join me?" he asked, a naughty smile in his voice.

"Gibbs will kill you if we're late again," she said, then popped out from under the covers as if she had been awake for hours, "but I think we have time." She leered at him, sexily. Her hair was all over the place, and she wasn't wearing makeup, but he thought she was the most beautiful thing he had ever laid eyes on.

"Let's go," he said, grabbing her arm and racing toward the bathroom, almost tripping over the shoes she had left in the middle of his floor. She giggled, and then jumped into his arms, wrapping her legs around him. She reached past him and turned the water on, causing it to spray them in the process.

"Abs!" he exclaimed. "You're still in your nightgown, and I…"

"They'll dry," she interrupted, laughing. He had a lot to learn.

---

"Come on, Noah, bring it," Maggie said, circling the mat. They had been sparring, and she was besting him time and again. She was good, but she wasn't that good. "What's going on?" she asked, not breaking her stance or concentration.

"Nothing," he said, as she swept his feet from under him again. She pinned him, her elbow holding him to the mat. A normal person would not be able to breathe; but since he didn't need to, she didn't see the problem.

"Then I'm going to have to find another partner, because you suck today," she said, knowing he would rise to the bait.

"Of course I do," he said, "or I wouldn't be here."

She laughed. "Bring it, bloodsucker," she taunted, landing a roundhouse kick squarely on his right jaw.

"Bitch," he said.

She laughed again. "Literally," she replied with a grin. She stepped off the mat and grabbed a bottle of water. "Seriously, Noah, what's eating you?"

"Not you, I hope," he said, jokingly.

"Ha, ha," she replied, rolling her eyes.

"Ziva let me feed from her last night," he said quietly.

"Wow," Maggie took a step back, surprised. "That's big, Noah."

"I know," he said, shaking his head. "I think I'm really starting to fall for her."

"You could do a lot worse than Ziva David. I really like her."

"I do too, Mags, I really do…" he said, lost in thought.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Gibbs rolled his eyes, thankful for coffee. Now that their last case had been wrapped up, Jenny had called a meeting. It wasn't a full staff briefing, thank God, but included DiNozzo, McGee, Ziva, Abby and Ducky. He hated being left out of things that affected his team. He glanced at his watch; this better not take long.

"Thank you for your time," Director Shepard began, welcoming. "As you know, Agent Diamond and Agent Sullivan have recently joined our team as liaisons for NPID. Now that we've had a chance to see how their particular skills can be of assistance here at NCIS, we have decided they will be remaining here, at least for the time being. Our new team members are now going to take a few moments to provide some more information that speaks to their specific experiences in their areas of specialty." She paused, smiling as Maggie and Noah entered the room to sit in the front. "Please keep in mind that the information about to be imparted to you is of the highest confidentiality. Noah?" she invited him to take her place in the front of the room. She crossed to sit next to Maggie.

"Good morning," Noah said, cocking one eyebrow. "First of all, let me state for the record that Maggie and I didn't keep this information from you intentionally. We believed your entire team had been briefed prior to our arrival here at NCIS. Director Shepard informed me she didn't wish to disclose this information until it was confirmed we would be staying at NCIS." He paused, looking at each person in the room one by one. He smiled at Abby, winked at Ziva, and then said, "Abby provided some information upon our arrival here. What you may not realize is that of the four kinds of the preternatural she listed, one if each is represented here today." He paused, listening to the uproar of everyone's thoughts. "Naturally, each of the four of us is aware of the other." He looked at each person one by one.

"Some of you knew about one or another of us, but no one knew everything. I can hear your thoughts right now, so I'm going to cut to the chase before some of the threats you're thinking come to pass…" he trailed off, catching Gibbs' look.

"I am a vampire. My mental abilities include mind reading, telepathy and the ability to impose certain feelings on others. I am over 600 years old." The room fell silent as everyone began to take in what was being shared. "I do drink human blood to survive. I require more than most other vampires due to my age. My only kills have been with manmade weapons either during war or in the line of duty. I first came to America in the late fifteenth century. I was the first vampire to move to the new land. I fought in the Revolutionary War beside General Washington. Actually, I have fought in every major conflict this country has faced, with the exception of the Civil War during which I was living abroad. I am currently the oldest living vampire in the United States." He paused, seeing that everyone was overwhelmed. "Let me answer your questions directly. Who's first?"

"What do you do when a vampire does something he shouldn't?" McGee asked.

"Vampires do not have a governing body or ruling council. We have developed standards of behavior and expect others to abide by those same standards. It typically falls to the eldest or most powerful to enforce the laws of the land among our kind. If a vampire 'went rogue', for lack of a better term, in the United States, it would be my responsibility to convince him to leave the country and never return. If he were to refuse, he would be executed," he answered matter-of-factly.

"Is there a way to keep you out of mind?" Gibbs asked, annoyed.

"Yes, you can put up a mental block to keep out any sort of mind reading or telepathy. It is a matter of focus. Agent Sullivan figured out how to do it within months of meeting me, and I haven't gotten anything from her since that she didn't want me to hear. I'm sure you can ask her more about how that works later, if you would like."

"Can we get a demonstration?" Abby asked, smiling.

"Of course," he said, smiling. "Can I get a volunteer?" he asked.

"Oh, me, pick me!" Abby said, raising her hand like was in elementary school. It was just as well, as none of the others volunteered. He took her hand as she came to the front of room, and turned her to face everyone. He stood directly behind her. She removed any jewelry she had around her neck, flopped her left pigtail over to the right side, and then cocked her head slightly to the right to allow him full access to her neck. Noah ran his fingers over her neck, gently caressing her.

"There are several places from which a vampire can feed," he explained. "The neck and wrist are the most obvious. The bite does leave visible marks, although they fade quickly. If a person wanted a mark not to be seen, the vampire can feed from one of several other places such as the ankle, breast or inner thigh." He leaned down to Abby's neck, inhaling her scent. "I can tell from her scent that Abby has no disease in her blood, is not under the influence and has eaten breakfast this morning." He continued gently stroking her neck, pissing off every over-protective man in the room. This included McGee, Gibbs and Tony. "As the person is essentially donating blood, the same rules apply that would if you went to the blood bank or a blood drive."

"Did you just call her a blood donor, Diamond?" Gibbs asked, out-of-sorts.

"Oh, Gibbs, it's not a problem," Abby interjected. "I used to date a vampire. I know the drill. Actually, it is a very pleasant experience."

"True," Noah added. "Some say it is better than sex. My opinion is, they haven't had really good sex," he paused as everyone laughed nervously, not knowing what to expect. He leaned down, moistening Abby's neck with a soft kiss. Abby closed her eyes in pleasure, feeling the gentle brush of his fangs across her soft skin. Noah's fangs sank deeply into her neck, causing her to gasp. As he began to suck, she moaned in pleasure. Noah caught her as her knees grew too weak to support her. He withdrew, leaving a clean set of marks and no blood. His mouth showed no evidence of fangs or blood. Abby stood and smiled, a very sated look on her face. "Thank you, Ms. Abby," he said softly, handing her jewelry back to her, and leading her to her seat.

"Oh, thank You," she insisted.

"Are you okay, Abs?" McGee asked, rushing to her side in worry.

"Definitely," she said smiling.

"How do we know that we haven't accepted you here only because you've imposed positive feelings on us?" Ziva asked, genuinely concerned. He met her eyes.

"Vampires aren't evil, Ziva," he replied. "Vampires typically only play mind games with one another, kind of as a show of power. I use the telepathy to communicate with others here. The mind reading is a part of who I am. I could no more stop hearing thoughts than you could stop hearing what someone was speaking. They are sort of like the score of a movie – always running in the background. While I have transferred emotion during an interrogation, I have never used it in personal or professional relationships and do not plan to. I have no proof. I can only ask that you trust me," he said, looking deeply into her eyes. "On that note, if there are no other questions for me, I'll give the floor to Kate."

The room erupted in quiet whispers. Kate went to the front of the room, looking to see who was actually looking at her: Abby, Maggie, Noah and Tony. As she suspected, none of the others could see her.

"Maggie, could you please be my voice to those who can't hear me?" she asked, politely.

"Of course," Maggie answered, making her way to the front of the room. Everyone looked at Maggie, confused. Maggie took a moment to explain.

"Kate is a ghost. She spends a lot of time here at the NCIS offices, and has assisted in investigations. If you can't see or hear her, it's because your mind has been conditioned to be insensitive to those things. In time, with belief and effort, I have no doubt that you will be able to see her. I'm going to allow her to speak, and I will repeat her words for those who can't hear her."

"I don't need to go into detail explaining who I am," Kate said smiling. "You knew me. Some of you knew me even better than I knew myself," she chuckled. "I have missed you so much. It was very difficult to see you mourn me." She paused, shaking her head. "Even now, I don't know for how long I will be here. But I do promise to be here for you for as long as I can be." She moved away from the podium. "That's all, thank you."

"Special Agent Caitlyn Todd," Gibbs said with a sideways smile, watching her walk toward him.

"Hey Boss," she said, smiling. "May I touch you?" she asked.

"You better," he said, chuckling, pulling her into a hug. He picked her up and swung her around. "I can't even believe it."

"You better," she mimicked, sitting down beside him.

Abby made her way to the podium. "My turn," she said in a perky voice. "God, this feels like AA or something," she laughed. "I'm a seer, which is really just a fancy way to say I'm a telepath that can do cool things in dreams." She nodded, as if what she said explained everything.

"Hardly," Maggie said with a knowing look. Abby laughed.

"Okay, what I can do is actually really cool," she said wagging her eyebrows. "I can literally control dreams. If you want to have a certain dream, I can send it to you. If you are having trouble with nightmares or bad memories, let me know; I can help. I can actually visit people in their dreams. I can only do this if I'm invited or under extreme life or death circumstances."

"So, what happens if you kill someone in their sleep?" Tony asked. "Are you like a modern-day Fred Krueger from Nightmare on Elm Street?"

"Tony!" Abby exclaimed, pretending to be hurt. She winked at him. "Actually, those stories are most likely rooted in someone's experience with a seer; much like there are stories about vampires and werewolves. Killing someone in their sleep can cause the person to go into cardiac arrest from fear, but wounds inflicted in the dream realm are not permanent."

"So you're the DreamMaster!" Tony said, excited. Abby laughed.

"Whatever you say, Tony," she said, turning the podium over to Maggie.

Maggie smiled nervously at each person in the room. "By process of elimination, I'm sure most of you now know I am a werewolf. Abby already provided a lot of information, so in the interest of saving time I'll just open the floor for questions." She paused, shrugged her shoulders and went to sit down.

"Wait a minute!" Gibbs stopped her. "Don't think you're getting out of this that easily."

"I'm sorry, Agent Gibbs, did you have a question?" she asked sweetly, pretending she hadn't been trying to avoid this.

"How old are you," he asked seriously.

"A lady never tells," she said flirtatiously. When she realized everyone was still awaiting her response, she continued. "I was born in Ireland in the late 1800s. I will be 114 years old in May," she stated, as if reciting. "Next question?"

"Let's say, for the sake of argument, you change into wolf form to track a suspect," Noah began. "What do you do with your clothing?" She gave him a loathsome look.

"You specifically leave it somewhere not likely to be found, but easily be accessed on all fours. Often I leave my clothing in the vehicle to which I rode to the scene. But this can backfire when your partner moves the car to the NCIS parking garage and then locks it behind him with the alarm set, and you're forced to borrow clothes from a 9-year-old girl's overnight bag," she said acidly, making everyone laugh. "Next question?" she asked, moving the interrogation along.

"Do we get a demonstration?" Tony asked. Maggie rolled her eyes.

"I thought you might want to see my wolf. The problem is, to see my wolf you have to see a lot more than that. I'm not modest. Growing up in a family of werewolves sort of rids you of any instinctual modesty. But you are my coworkers and this is a professional meeting, so I would ask you to turn around while I disrobe and change," she said.

"It's not really a demonstration if we don't see the change," Gibbs commented. "I'm watching," he said, leaving no room for argument.

"Fine, suit yourself," she said as the others began turning around to face the back of the room.

Maggie met Gibbs' eyes and blushed. He was the only person still facing forward. She was not normally modest, but under these circumstances she could hardly believe she was about to take her clothes off. He raised an eyebrow in challenge. She wanted to turn around so he couldn't see her, but was too stubborn to back down. She yanked the hair tie from her hair and shook it out, letting it fall loosely around her shoulders. She could hear the change in his breathing. She smiled. If he was going to make this a challenge, she was determined to make it as difficult for him as possible; or at least memorable. She slowly removed her blouse, pants, shoes and socks. Throughout the process, she never broke eye contact with him. When she reached behind her to release her bra, she smiled and turned around. She removed her underclothes with her back to the room. She placed her clothes in a neat pile on the chair next to the podium, and then crouched naked on the floor, her back still to Gibbs and the others.

Gibbs watched in fascination. He watched as her lithe legs began to shift into those of a wolf, her slender fingers pulling into a large paw. He was captivated by her transformation. Within mere moments what had been one of the most amazing specimens of the female human body he had ever seen had become a gorgeous wolf with copper fur. Maggie leapt and moved quickly to the back of the room, capturing the attention of the others. She howled, and then pulled her lips back into a snarl as if preparing for attack. She ran at DiNozzo, teeth bared. He started backing away, tripping over a chair in the process. He landed flat on his back, with Maggie above him. At the last moment, she changed her snarl to a whine and began licking him in the face. He laughed, as if he hadn't been frightened.

"Did you piss your pants, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked in good humor. DiNozzo held up two fingers as if to indicate "just a little bit". Everyone laughed. Maggie crossed the room and laid her paw on Director Shepard's lap. Jenny looked at her, and then started petting her between the ears.

Maggie crossed back to the front of the room, grabbed her clothes in her mouth, and exited through the side door.

"Where's she going?" Abby asked. "It's too soon for her to change back, isn't it?" she asked Noah.

"She's pretty strong, even for a werewolf, but I don't think she could handle changing back this quickly," he said, concentrating. "Darn it, she's still blocking me. I can't track her thoughts."

"I'll find her," Gibbs said, leaving through the same side door.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Gibbs crossed the hall and noticed the door to the storage room was slightly ajar. He smirked, opening the door, "Maggie, I know you can hear me," he began. He stopped short when he saw her laying on the floor, unconscious, her clothing in a heap beside her. He rushed to her side, checking to see that she was still breathing and had a pulse. He breathed a sigh of relief when he realized she was fine; only sleeping deeply. He was unable to rouse her. He sat next to her and pulled her into his lap. He pulled her blouse over her shoulders and carefully buttoned it. He then began attempting to put her skirt on her. This proved to be very difficult – like dressing a child who is half-asleep. After getting her clothes on her, he shoved her underclothes into his pockets so they wouldn't be seen, and then gathered her into his arms. He carried her down to Abby's lab like you would carry a sleeping child.

"Abs, do you have any idea how long she'll be out," he asked, concerned.

"Noah said the one time she changed after only being in wolf form for 45 minutes she was unconscious for about an hour," Abby responded, speaking quickly. "She was probably in wolf form for less than 15 minutes this time. I have no idea how long she'll be out, or how this might affect her."

"Where's McGee?" Gibbs asked.

"He took that information to Fornell for you, remember?" Abby reported, curious at his not automatically expecting that is where he would be, since he gave the order.

"Oh, that's right," Gibbs said, distracted.

"What did you need?" Abby asked.

"I was going to have him take Agent Sullivan home and stay with her," he responded. "I want someone to be there with her this afternoon, to make sure she's okay and that she doesn't come back into the office later."

Abby was taken aback. Unless someone was dying, he thought they should be working. "I think Noah…" she began.

"No," Gibbs interjected. "I'm not sending her with him." He sounded very determined.

"What's wrong?" Abby asked.

"I'm still not sure how I feel about what I learned today. I know I didn't like what he did to you in the least. To me, it was like he violated you right in front of me. If you hadn't been standing there telling me you were okay with it, I would have kicked his…"

"Awwww," Abby said, kissing his cheek. "I love when you get all protective."

"I'm serious, Abby," he said. "I'm just not sure…"

"I understand," she said. "But Tony…"

"No, not Tony either," Gibbs said. "It would have to be McGee." Gibbs knew he should trust Tony, and he did when it was about work. He just wasn't sure he could trust him alone with a very attractive, very vulnerable woman.

"Okay…" Abby said, not sure what to say.

"I'll take her myself," he said, turning to leave. "I have my cell if you need me," he called on his way out the door. Now the question was; could he trust himself.

---

McGee crept up behind Abby slowly. He reached out with both hands, careful not to make a sound.

"I know you're there, Tim," she said, exasperated.

"What's wrong?" he asked, sensing her frustration.

"What's wrong is that I just told the biggest secret about myself that I've ever told, to more people than I ever thought I would tell, including the man I love and am currently involved with, and not one person has stopped by to talk, and that makes me nervous, McGee!" Abby rambled so quickly he couldn't get a word in.

"Awww," he said, attempting to embrace her. She sidestepped his embrace and turned on him with her eyes downcast.

"I can't believe you aren't even upset with me for not telling you," she said to him suspiciously.

"So let me get this straight," he said. "You're upset at me because I'm not upset with you?"

Abby giggled through what sounded like the beginning of tears. "It sounds kind of silly when you say it like that, but yeah! I want you to care SO MUCH that even the thought of someone knowing something about me that you don't know disturbs you. I want you to be upset when I keep a secret from you. I want you to love me as much as I love you, and I don't think you do," her voice broke on the last few words. She leaned on her hip against the counter next to him, but turned her back away from him.

"Abby," he said, reaching out to touch her shoulder. "You are unlike any person I've ever met. I love that about you. You are so tough and wild, yet completely sweet and vulnerable. Your capacity to love others is amazing. When I think about you loving me with everything you have in your heart it scares me a little bit. Not because I don't love you, but because I love you so much," he assured her, rubbing her shoulders while she cried. He kissed the top of her head, and then turned her around to face him. He reached out and pulled her chin up, forcing her to meet his gaze. "Abby Sciuto, I love you with all my heart and will for the rest of my life. When I heard your secret this morning, I wasn't the least bit surprised. You are such an amazing person and you overwhelm me every day. I was a little upset that you hadn't shared it with me yet, but I assumed you were waiting for the right time. I'm sorry if I'm not macho enough, or whatever, to…"

She interrupted him by grabbing him and kissing him hard. He pulled her tightly into his arms and deepened the kiss. Abby sighed in the back of her throat, making him moan. Neither even heard Tony and Ziva enter the room.

"Geez! Get a room or something," Tony said with a huge grin, not bothering to turn away. Abby pulled away from McGee to respond.

"Shut up, Tony!" they answered in unison. The smiled at one another, then picked up where they left off as Tony and Ziva left the room.

---

"That was kind of sweet," Ziva said, smiling.

"Sweet?" Tony responded. "I thought he was going to swallow her."

"You're so romantic, Tony," Ziva said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. Her hands automatically reached up to finger the pendant that hung around her neck. Her thoughts wandered to Noah. She could hardly believe their friendship had progressed as quickly as it had. She didn't have a problem sexually, but… Her fingers moved to the faint marks that remained on her neck. Although no longer visible, she could still feel them. She smiled in remembrance. She had actually surprised herself by suggesting to him that he feed from her. He told her it had been his experience that women were a little freaked out by that, and he probably wouldn't have suggested it for some time. She remembered his "demonstration" with Abby from earlier that morning, jealousy flashing hot into her cheeks. She had wanted to walk up to him, jerk Abby out of his grasp and insist he use her instead. Of course, she hadn't exactly volunteered. She thought of his many companions and began to wonder how she would cope with her jealousy.

"and that's when I switched to decaf," Tony finished, eyeing Ziva seriously.

"I'm sorry Tony, what was that?" she asked, embarrassed.

"Nothing, I was just talking to you and you weren't listening to a word I said," he teased.

"Yes I was," she tried to cover.

"Really?" he challenged.

"Okay, maybe not," she admitted. "You just aren't very interesting, Tony, sorry."

Tony mimed himself being stabbed in the heart. He pretended the knife twisted as he fell to the floor, breathing his last breath. He lay on the floor, lifeless. Ziva laughed.

"That's was a little over the tip, Tony," she said chuckling.

"Over the TOP, Ziva," he said getting to his feet.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Gibbs had retrieved Maggie's purse from her desk, making sure her keys were inside. As he loaded her sleeping body into his car, he leaned over her to make sure her seat belt was securely fastened. As he drove her home, he was surprised to realize he knew the address without looking. He had studied their files when she and Noah had first come to NCIS, but she didn't have this residence at that time. He remembered hearing her tell McGee the address, and noting it was just up the street from him. It was a little disturbing to him that remembered as much as he did about her – just about anything he had ever heard or read.

He pulled in to the driveway of her townhouse, parking in front of garage door. He unlocked the door and took a quick look around. Everything seemed quiet. As he carried her in, he pulled the door closed behind him and locked it.

Her house was not at all what he had expected. It was older with classic lines, hardwood floors and high ceilings. He smiled. He carried her down the hallway into what he assumed to be her bedroom. Again, the room wasn't feminine, as he had expected it would be. Her furniture looked handmade, with high quality lumber and a beautiful grain. He pulled back her down comforter, laying her down gently. He tucked the blanket around her, and leaned down to place a kiss on her cheek.

His mind was flooding with memories of his daughter that had been taken from him so soon. He didn't know how many times he had carried her to bed just like that, tucking her in. Of course, she wasn't quite so out of it as Maggie. Often Kelly would snuggle down into her covers and smile as she drifted back off to sleep. At other times she would whimper at being disturbed. He shook his head, trying to keep the melancholy that these memories sometimes brought from overtaking him.

He walked through Maggie's home, feeling a little like an intruder. She hadn't invited him. She hadn't expected he would be there. But here he was. He noted that her home was furnished with high quality, well-made pieces. But it wasn't cluttered. There was nothing there that wasn't required. It was neat as a pin. He stopped to look at the framed photographs along the wall in the hallway. Family was very important to Ms. Sullivan, according to her photos. There were pictures of people of all ages, and most included her. In each picture she was totally enjoying life. He was surprised to note that Maggie liked to sail. He knew she lived on a boat and that she was raised on the water, but he didn't know to what extent she enjoyed sailing until he saw her photos. There were pictures on a ketch, a cutter and a very large wooden ship similar to a Turkish gulet. There were also several pictures aboard a large, modern cabin cruiser. He could only assume this was where she lived most of the time.

He had no idea what to do next. He picked up his phone.

"Abs?" he asked.

"Yeah, Boss," she said over the music he could hear in the background. He smiled.

"What should I expect when she wakes up?" he asked, realizing Abby didn't have any reason to know why he had called.

"Oh! You'll need to feed her. A lot. Werewolves have a really high metabolism. Maggie eats like a football player, yet has the body of a dancer. She probably has something appropriate in the fridge," she paused to take a breath. "And she'll probably fight you about coming back in to the office. She won't want to just stay home," Abby warned.

"I'll take care of that," Gibbs answered determined.

"I guess you'll just have to watch TV or something until she wakes up," Abby said, chuckling at the thought of Gibbs with an afternoon off.

"She doesn't have a TV, Abs. Or a computer," he added.

"Wow," Abby said, surprised. "I didn't realize that. Hope you don't get bored!"

"I think I'll survive, Abs, thanks," he said.

"Okay, well, let me know if you need anything from me," she replied perkily.

He disconnected without saying bye.

Gibbs went into the kitchen, looking around for something to eat. He grinned when he noticed her large coffee bean grinder and professional-looking coffee maker. Her refrigerator was well-stocked, but only contained a few things: fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, fresh herbs, fresh meat, homemade salad dressing, beer and ice cream. He laughed, moving two large steaks from the refrigerator to the countertop. He stepped out onto the patio from the French doors in the kitchen to find a very lovely backyard. Maggie had planted (or transplanted – he wasn't sure) a small vegetable and herb garden, lots of flowers and a few flowering bushes. It was hard to believe she had only been here a few months. She had a large, wooden porch swing overlooking the yard. Her grill sat on the other side of the patio. Charcoal. He should have known – she didn't seem to do anything the easy way. He started the coals and headed back inside. He seasoned the meat and set it back into the fridge. He took out several different vegetables and began preparing a salad.

"Coffee?" he heard a soft voice from the other room. He grinned. He should have known. He rinsed his hands, dried them on a towel, and then crossed to the coffeemaker. He made coffee, noting that the grounds were in a personal container. They smelled terrific. He heard her footsteps and she came into the kitchen. She was wearing a short tank top, a pair of low-rise sweats and white socks. She had pulled her hair into a high, long pony tail. "Thanks," she smiled, blushing. She grabbed two baby carrots with one hand and three cucumber slices with the other. She grinned through her full mouth. "Starving," she said. He chuckled.

"I didn't think about coffee until you said something, so it will be a few minutes. The steaks are seasoned and in the fridge," he informed her. She stepped over and took the knife from his hand, automatically taking over. This was her kitchen – her domain. He quirked his mouth up into a sideways grin.

"What?" she asked, noticing his expression. She giggled nervously when she realized what she had done. "Sorry," she said.

"Never apologize," he said. "It's a sign of weakness."

She gave him a philosophical look. "I've always seen it as a sign of strength."

"You aren't the first person who has told me that," he said, shaking his head. "You do this; I'll get the steaks."

"Medium-rare for me, please," she said with a grin.

"You got it," he said with a wink. Her heartbeat jumped. She closed her eyes, forcing herself to breathe normally.

She grabbed a cup of coffee, inhaled its aroma deeply, and then began to sip it. She sighed – perfect. She took another cup from the cabinet and poured a cup for Gibbs. "Coffee?" she offered, handing him the cup.

"Of course," he said, taking a long sip. He raised his eyebrows. "This is incredible," he said shocked. He considered himself quite the connoisseur of coffee and thought he had tried every kind of blend out there. "What brand is this?"

She shook her head, "I don't buy anything processed. Any food you find in my house will be fresh. Do you honestly think that a person who grinds her own seasonings would buy normal coffee beans?" she looked at him with one eyebrow cocked. "I know; I'm weird. This is a blend of over 16 different kinds of coffee beans that a supplier in Columbia makes especially for me."

He gave her a bizarre look.

"Hey, I've lived a long time. I've learned what's important in life, and what isn't," she said, heading back inside to finish the salad.

"I suppose," he said, knowing she had misunderstood his look. He was beginning to question her motives. Could she be some sort of plant or spy? What were the chances of there being a woman in his life who was immediately attracted to him rather than DiNozzo or Diamond; who had red hair, loved sailing and drank strong black coffee; who preferred a world without complications like technology and modern entertainment, and who was a darn fine investigator? Of course, if she really were such a woman that would explain his attraction. He forced these thoughts out of his mind, grabbed the steaks off the grill, and headed back inside.

Gibbs was able to push any negative thoughts from his mind and enjoy the afternoon. It was difficult not to respond to her. They shared a nice dinner, great conversation and quite a few laughs. She talked at length about sailing in response to his questions about her pictures. She told him about her family, smiling as she recounted the quirky little anecdotes that you only really have when you're from a close family. He could feel himself being more and more sucked in to her world. Instinctively, he pulled away in silence when he found himself getting too close. He still had his doubts about her, and he had been burned one too many times. He was very serious about not wanting to get involved with a coworker. He had to remind himself of those things again and again. Over the course of their time together, Maggie also schooled him on how to begin guarding his thoughts around Agent Diamond. According to Maggie, he might find it difficult at first, but it would come to him in time.

"You know when you were first learning to sail," she explained. "You had to pay such close attention to the mainsail and the mizzen. It was very easy to make mistakes. I can remember how many times I thought I was doing well, and my dad would rush in to tell me something else I had forgotten. But the more you practice, the more it becomes second nature. Now you don't even have to think about it. It's the same with training your mind. You have to kind of dig furrows in your mind – sort of a protective wall against your thoughts escaping. In the beginning you'll be better off trying not to let your thoughts go too crazy anyway. Eventually, you'll be able to think whatever you want and block his hearing your thoughts without even trying." Gibbs was skeptical, but definitely wanted to try. The last thing he needed was someone under his charge being able to hear his every thought; especially right now.

"Want another beer," Maggie asked, reaching for her fourth.

"Sure," he said with a smile. He chuckled. "I thought you would be more of a wine person," he suggested.

"Are you kidding, Jethro, I'm Irish!" she laughed. He smiled. There had to be something going on with her – this was way too easy. She sensed the change in his demeanor. "What's wrong?" she asked. "You can't seriously have a problem with my using your first name, I'm old enough to be your grandmother," she said with a twinkle in her eye.

"No, that's not it," he said, again pushing his negative thoughts away. He hated being suspicious, but that is part of what make him such a good investigator.

"What is it?" she asked again, bothered by the expression on his face.

"I said it's nothing, back off," he said more firmly. She was taken aback by his tone.

"Look, I appreciate what you did for me today, but it's not like I invited you here. Sure, I've made no secret of wanting you, but it's not like I set out to seduce you or something…" she began, anger building in her words.

"Just be quiet," he said in frustration. He exhaled slowly, pulling his hand through his silver hair. "I'm sorry, I think I need to go."

"That's fine," she said softly. He was clearly waging some sort of inner battle. She knew she was better off staying out of it. "Thanks again," she said genuinely, "for today – for everything."

"You're welcome," he said, turning to go. She walked him to the door. At the last moment he turned to face her, grabbed her and jerked her toward him, crushing her mouth against his. He pulled her even tighter to him, deepening the kiss. He pushed her against the wall, holding her by the wrists as he kissed her they way he had wanted to for so long. He leaned against her, using his body to support her when her legs no longer could. She moaned passionately, pressing even further into him. He pushed away, broke the kiss, and stormed out the door without a word. Maggie sagged to the floor and leaned her head on her knees. She listened as his car engine fired to life and he sped out of her driveway. She didn't pity the man, as she knew this had to be difficult for him. But she was looking forward to what might happen next.

After he returned to his vehicle, he reached for his phone. "Fornell; it's Gibbs," he said. "Look, I need some information and I don't want anyone on my team to know about it," he said softly. He proceeded ask that he find out if Agent Sullivan had any other attachments besides NPID, and if there was a chance her integrity could have been compromised. He hung up the phone, and pounded his fist, hard, into the dash of his car in frustration. He wasn't sure which answer he wanted to hear. In a way, he would rather her be crooked. At least then he would have a good excuse to oust her from his life. She was the last thing he needed.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Maggie wasn't sure what the nature of the problem was, but something was definitely up with Gibbs. He had been barking at everyone all week, even more so than usual. Even Abby couldn't break through to him.

"286 South Patrick," Gibbs ordered. "Get there, people, the scene isn't going to investigate itself. McGee, you're with me. Noah; Ziva, Tony; meet us there. Quickly, people!" he barked.

"Agent Gibbs," Maggie began to question. He stopped and heaved a sigh.

"Yes, Agent Sullivan?" he responded impatiently.

"What do you want me to do?" she asked.

"I don't care," he said annoyed. He shook his head, "Ride with Agents Diamond and DiNozzo."

"I'm sorry, but have I done something to offend you?" she asked him. There was silence across the bullpen as everyone held their collective breaths.

"Actually, you have," he said sternly, getting in her face. "That choice you made last week was a stupid, probie error. You are smarter than that. Not only did you put yourself at risk, but you also cost almost a whole day's work for two agents. Both of those things are unacceptable!" he shouted, his face mere inches from hers. "You of all people should have known the effect your choice would have had, but your pride was more important than your health." He continued to point at her. "From now on you will treat this team with the respect it deserves, are we clear?" The silence in the room was almost deafening. People had seen Gibbs upset, but he typically didn't call people out in public. And they had never seen him this upset at someone not sitting across from him in interrogation. "Are we CLEAR, Agent Sullivan!!??" he repeated at full volume.

"Yes sir," she answered, meeting his eyes with her own. He stared her down, but she didn't give an inch. She smiled, continuing to meet his gaze, until he turned away.

"Wow," Noah said after McGee and Gibbs had left the building. "He really meant every word of that, Maggie. He's doing a pretty good job of blocking his thoughts now that he knows about me; but when he began reaming you out, he dropped his guard. There was no pretense in that at all."

"I have no doubt of his sincerity," Maggie confirmed. "He's right, you know," she continued contemplative. "I knew better."

"I know you did," Noah answered. "I still don't know why you tried it."

She sighed. All she knew was when she showed the team her wolf she HAD to change back. She couldn't explain the compulsion to do it when she did, but she just felt she had to.

"We better hurry," Tony said, patting Maggie on the back as they climbed into the vehicle.

---

"Abby, do you have a minute?" Kate asked over the music in the forensics lab.

"For you? Always," Abby said with a smile. "Where've you been? I haven't seen you in a few days."

"I've been scouring the city, asking others like me for more information. Tony is so certain that there is some way for me to stay indefinitely. I haven't heard anything," Kate sighed in exasperation. "What's been going on here?"

Abby leveled her a strange look. "Tony's been acting weird since you've been missing. Gibbs is in some sort of funk – I've never seen him like this before. Tony said he saw him out over the weekend getting totally hammered. When Tony tried to joke with him about it, he bit his head off."

"Wow, that's intense, even for Gibbs," Kate remarked.

"And I know!" Abby said. "Rumor has it that he just went off on Maggie upstairs before they all left for the crime scene. Agent Lee said he was vicious."

"Aw, poor Gibbs," Kate said.

"Poor Gibbs?" Abby questioned. "I'm serious Kate, you know I'm usually the first to defend him but he's really pissing me off this week." Abby shrugged as her phone rang.

"You got me, shoot!" Abby said cheerfully, putting the call on speaker.

"McGee and DiNozzo are bringing evidence. Call me when you have something," Gibbs said shortly, disconnecting immediately after.

"You're welcome!" Abby shouted at the phone. Kate laughed, and then met Abby's gaze. They laughed together. "That's just one more reason why I need you here, my friend," she said.

---

"Where've you been, Duck?" Gibbs demanded.

"Obeying the traffic laws, Jethro," Ducky responded disdainfully. "I informed Mr. Palmer that it was more important for us to arrive alive than not to arrive at all due to our innards being strewn across six lanes of freeway," he continued, making his way inside the small ranch house. "Now, what do we have here?" he asked indicating the two bodies lying on the floor of the living room.

"Isn't that what you're supposed to tell me?" Gibbs responded. He continued, "McGee and DiNozzo already photographed the scene and collected some evidence for Abby to examine. Sullivan is still canvassing the area, and David and Diamond are interviewing the next-door neighbor who reported the incident. They've already finished interviewing the police who responded to scene. It would have been nice to have had our medical examiner here while we were still speaking with the police," he said frustrated.

"I assure you, Jethro, Mr. Palmer and I arrived as soon as we possibly could. Now if you don't mind…" he skirted past him to begin examining the body. "What we have here, Mr. Palmer, is…" Ducky continued, ignoring Gibbs' look of impatience "is a case of the lion with a thorn stuck in his paw." Jimmy Palmer looked at the body, confused.

"It looks like a simple bullet wound to me, Dr. Mallard," Jimmy replied.

"It is never simple, Mr. Palmer, and I was referring to our fearless leader, Agent Gibbs" Ducky explained.

"Oh," said Palmer, still a little confused.

---

"Gibbs," he barked into his phone.

"It's Fornell, can you talk?"

"What you got for me?" he cut to the chase.

"First of all, it took an act of God to find any information at all on NPID, but I finally did. Your Agent Sullivan is totally clean, Jethro," Fornell said matter-of-factly.

"Are your sure, Tobias?" Gibbs asked, wanting confirmation. "The fate of my whole team is riding on this."

"I couldn't be more certain," he continued. "And as far as her allegations of using… ahem… 'relationships' for personal or other gain – you couldn't be further off. She has a reputation of the highest integrity. Just about every person I questioned was offended on her behalf. Even her credit rating is exemplary."

"Thank you," Gibbs said softly, disconnecting the line. That was one last thing for him to worry about. Gibbs drove off without a word, leaving the others at the scene.

---

Working furiously to get as much information as possible before Gibbs yelled at her again, Abby didn't notice when he walked into the lab. He put the Caf-Pow! next to her. "Hey Abs," he said.

"Gibbs?" she asked, turning to look him in the eyes. She smiled, "It's you! You're back! I thought aliens had abducted you and you were an imposter!" she exclaimed, giving him a huge hug. He chuckled.

"No aliens, Abby, just having a bad week," he answered.

"I'll say," she whispered under her breath. He chose to ignore her comment.

"What've you got?" he asked, looking over her shoulder.

"What we have here are at least two different perpetrators, Gibbs. You see, the blood on the fibers found near the couch aren't even the same blood type as the blood on these fibers found near the door. And neither blood sample matches either victim. I'm working on reconstructing the scene," she said, pointing to her monitor. "So far, I can't come up with a scenario that would come even close to leaving things the way we found them. But I'll keep working on it," she quickly added, "and let you know as soon as I have something." She smiled and saluted him. Gibbs leaned down and kissed her on the cheek.

"Good work, Abby," he said and left the room.

---

Maggie was completely flabbergasted. She had assumed doubts about her were one of the reasons for Gibbs' attitude problem that week. But she had also assumed that those doubts were rooted in what he was feeling for her. She knew he was attracted to her, and she also knew he had no desire to break the personal code he had developed for himself. But it never even crossed her mind that he might question her motives or integrity. She reviewed the conversation she overhead between him and Fornell in her mind for about the twelfth time. She respected him all the more for following up on his suspicions. But what she couldn't believe was that he suspected she had a history of using her feminine wiles, so to speak, for nefarious reasons. That he would mistake her attraction for him as something cheap or sneaky made her furious.

What he needed was to be brought down a peg or two. She thought about the way he had been treating everyone this week. She had been excusing his behavior, but the more she thought about it, the angrier she got. What right did he have to treat people that way? Being someone's superior does not give you the right to act like a toddler on a temper tantrum and get away with it. She decided at that moment to give him a piece of her mind.

---

She had no sooner made her decision than Jethro stepped onto the elevator beside her.

"I was looking for you," he began.

"And I was looking for you," she interrupted, fire flashing in her green eyes. She hit the elevator stop button. "You need to come down off your high horse and look around you for a minute. You're leading one of the best investigative teams out there, Jethro! And you're treating them like idiots. You've made Abby cry. Twice! And you've put Ducky all out-of-sorts. And I know you may be confused about me, but that doesn't give you the right to treat me like something you scraped off the bottom of your shoe!" she shouted.

"Maggie…" he attempted to speak, but was cut off.

"I put up with your reprimand earlier because you were right. I will submit to your authority, Jethro, and I respect you as the leader of this team. But I WILL NOT have my integrity questioned and I refuse to allow you, or anyone, to call me a slut or a liar!!" She paused, breathing heavily.

"If you would let me speak for a moment," Gibbs interjected. "I was looking for you because I wanted to apologize for how I've been acting. I just left Abby's lab from doing the same."

"Oh, so once Fornell tells you everything's okay, then you apologize?" she asked with indignation. "I don't think so!"

"How did you…" he began.

"I'm a werewolf, remember?" she met his eyes. "I was canvassing the area this morning when you took the call from Fornell. I was less than 20 yards away from you. Not only could I hear every word you said, I could clearly hear everything he said through your phone."

"I'm sorry, Maggie, I just had to check to…" he tried, again, to speak.

"I know – you had suspicions you had to research. I respect you for following up on your instinct. You have a responsibility to your team to do so. You wanted to make me see what a bastard you really are? Well, you succeeded. Not because you protected your team, but because you couldn't see 'into' me enough to know that what you were seeing was the real thing. I told you about my family, Jethro? Did you really think that was all put on? You wanted me to back off? I have," she continued.

"Darn it, you're stubborn!" he interrupted. "Would you just be quiet and let me talk for a minute," Gibbs gazed into her eyes which were still flashing with anger. "I said I was sorry. I admit I didn't want to think anything negative about you. What I wanted to do was take you to bed for about twelve hours. But I can't do that, Maggie," he continued, starting to raise his voice. "There are reasons why I am so adamant about not getting involved with someone I work with. It can be messy and complicated."

"You think I'm upset because you didn't sleep with me?" Maggie asked incredulously. "Jethro, don't flatter yourself. Yes, I'm attracted to you. More so than anyone I've ever met in 114 years. But it's not like I'm in love with you. It's not like hearing you say 'no' is going to make me suicidal. I'm not some teenager with a crush. I've lived a long time, and learned a lot about life. I'm upset because you couldn't see how sincere I was. I'm upset with myself for thinking you weren't like everybody else," her voice was finally quiet. "You have made rules for yourself, and you think it's because it's what works best. But in reality, they are to protect you. You've been hurt so many times in the past, and you think setting a few ground rules will protect you in the future. You can't live behind a fortress wall, Jethro. Do you think you are the only person who has loved and then lost someone? Do you think you're the only person who has been betrayed? Get over yourself," she said, shaking her head. She reached over and restarted the elevator. "I'm taking a walk to clear my head, call my cell if anything comes up," she said, stepping off the elevator.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Maggie jerked her head up from staring at her screen and looked at the elevator. She broke into a huge grin, got up and crossed the room to stand by the elevator doors.

"What's up with her?" McGee asked.

"Beats me," Noah answered. "I stopped trying to figure her out years ago." Everyone chuckled. Maggie could sometimes be unpredictable.

"It's almost lunchtime, so I'm going to take off early," she said, still waiting for the elevator.

"Says who, Sullivan?" Gibbs interjected.

"Oh come on, Gibbs…" she begged. "We've wrapped everything up on that last investigation and…"

"I didn't say you couldn't go, Maggie," he said grinning. "It's a joke."

About that time the elevator opened and two young (looking), extremely hot men stepped off, grinning from ear to ear. The first one, tall with dark hair and eyes, grabbed Maggie around the waist and swung her around about six times. Maggie threw her head back and laughed out loud, dropping a kiss on the corner of his mouth.

"Jaime, I've missed you!" she said as the other man pulled her into his arms.

"What am I, chopped liver?" he asked. He had shocking red hair and a thick Irish accent. Maggie laughed, kissing his cheek.

"You are a sight for sore eyes, is what you are, Morgan," she answered, her accent automatically thickening. "Want to meet everyone, or just go to lunch?" she asked.

"Lunch," they said in unison. She laughed again, as they stepped onto the elevator to leave without saying a word.

---

Noah laughed to himself. He had met Jaime before and had heard of Morgan. He could tell from the thoughts spinning around the room that everyone was speculating; and most minds were in the gutter. He remembered the first time he met Jaime. He had assumed the same thing, picked a fight, and got his rear end handed to him. He had expected to have no trouble, but apparently Jaime was one of the strongest warriors among the werewolves. He had been so jealous of his close relationship to Maggie, that he hadn't thought things through. He had been stupid. He was too old to make mistakes like that. He shook his head.

Gibbs' mind flashed to the photographs on Maggie's wall. He recognized both men from the photos, and remembered that the redhead was one of her brothers. He also recognized the dark haired man from photos, but knew Maggie hadn't mentioned her relationship to him; which meant he probably wasn't family. He knew Maggie, although sweet, was not exactly innocent. The dark haired man was probably a lover. His mind immediately went to a vision of the handsome man in bed with Maggie, doing things to her that he had been dreaming of since he had first laid eyes on her. Darn it! He smacked himself on the back of the head. 'Snap out of it!' he told himself. He had finally been able to get her out of his mind, and now this.

---

Ziva walked into forensics and stopped dead in her tracks. Abby and McGee were standing with their backs to her, moving their necks to the side in a very bizarre sort of dance. The music blaring was not exactly something Abby would normally have been listening to. "Umm… hello?" she asked, getting their attention.

"Oh, Ziva, come here," Abby said, rushing to grab the Israeli by the arm. "Do this with us," she instructed, showing her how to move her head.

"Can I ask why?" Ziva asked.

"Because it's fun," Abby answered simply. "Tony made us watch this retarded movie the other night, and now I'm totally obsessed with this song!" she explained. Tony walked in to see all three of the others doing the crazy head dance together. He laughed.

"You're listening to Haddaway, Abs?" he asked. "I thought you hated 'Night at the Roxbury'?"

"Oh, I did, Tony," she answered. "That's an hour and a half of our lives that Timmy and I will never get back. But this song is so fun!!"

Tony laughed again, joining in and singing, "O-oh-o-oh-o-oh-oh-oh-oh! What is love? Baby don't hurt me… don't hurt me… no more."

"I've entered the Twilight Zone," Gibbs said, walking in on the scene.

"Gibbs! Come dance with us!" Abby begged as the others immediately stopped dancing and starting acting like they had a reason to be there.

"I don't think so, Abs," he answered, shaking his head at them and chuckling.

"What did you need?" she asked, smiling big.

"Just checking to see how you were keeping yourself busy down here," Gibbs answered. "I'm certainly glad I pushed for that raise," he said sarcastically.

"Awww, Gibbs!" Abby protested. "You know how hard I work when we have a case, but I thought since…"

"Joking, Abby," he interjected. "Have you seen Diamond?" he asked.

"He went to the gym for lunch," Ziva answered, automatically. Abby gave her a knowing look.

"Thanks," Gibbs said, leaving as quickly as he had come in.

---

"Why didn't you tell me you were coming?" Maggie asked her lunch guests, grateful that she had put a huge roast into the crock-pot before she left for work. Feeding three werewolves could be quite an undertaking.

"And spoil the surprise?" Morgan rejected the idea.

"So, do you need me the beat the heck out of Noah again?" Jaime asked, a wistful expression on his gorgeous face. Maggie hit him in the arm. Hard.

"No, moron," she said. "I didn't need you to beat him up the first time, if you recall."

Jaime laughed at the memory. "He was so territorial. Is he still into you?"

Maggie shook her head, "Nope."

"What, my sister isn't good enough for him anymore?" Morgan asked as if offended. Maggie laughed.

"If not him, who?" Jaime asked.

"Who what, Mr. Articulate?" Maggie asked, rolling her eyes. Here goes nothing.

"Who's the special someone?" Jaime asked. "And don't say 'no one'. We have the right to know, and you have the right to spill any and all information right now."

"I beg your pardon," Maggie responded. "You have the right to recognize that this is my house, I'm a grown woman and capable of taking care of myself." The guys shook their heads at one another as if in disagreement.

"Remember Logan," Morgan began.

"How did I know you would bring that up," Maggie interrupted. "That was over fifty years ago!"

"And you said you were a grown woman capable of taking care of yourself," Jaime said, mimicking her voice. They laughed.

"I'm seriously not with anyone," Maggie answered. They could hear the truth to her words.

"What's wrong with the men around here," Jaime asked seriously. "You're the perfect woman."

"Here, here!" Morgan said, raising his beer to Jaime.

"I'm perfect? Perfectly happy, is what I am," Maggie replied, this time not so truthfully. Her eyes showed a hint of her recent disappointment.

"What's his name?" Jaime asked, his expression darkening.

Maggie sighed, "What are you talking about?"

"Whoever made you feel that, I wanna break him," he said seriously. "Someone hurt you. I know it. I can tell. You just give me his name…"

"Shut up, Jaime!" Maggie said. "No one has done anything to hurt me, okay," she insisted. "There's a guy I sort of like… want… whatever…" she explained.

"And…" Jamie pulled more out of her.

"And he doesn't feel the same way, that's all," she said as if it wasn't that big a deal. Now, coffee's done; let me grab dessert. She made it apparent in her expression that she was finished discussing the subject.

"On the subject of romance, how is Annie?" she asked Morgan. His face broke into a huge smile.

"Perfect; she's perfect," he answered, "and with child again."

"Your tenth?" she asked.

"That's right," he answered with pride. It was amazing how many children you could have when your child-bearing period was over 400 years.

"That's wonderful, Morgan," she said with love in her eyes. "I can't wait to get away for a few weeks. I miss Ireland and home; mom and dad…" her voice faded. "It is so nice to see you."

They visited for a few more moments, them filling her in on news from back home. After a bit, Maggie stood.

"I have to go back to work," she said, heading toward the door. "There's an Irish pub near there called Dirty Nellie's. The owner's from Dublin. I'll meet you there for drinks around 6:00?" she suggested as she rushed out the door to her car, happy to get away before they pulled more information out of her. She shook her head. Everyone had to be a tough guy. She wasn't sure if it was the werewolf factor, or the Irish factor. She laughed to herself. Macho though they may be, she loved her family more than anything. She just didn't trust what they might do with certain information. These guys gave new meaning to the word overprotective.

---

"Hey," Noah said, grabbing Ziva from behind, spinning her around and kissing her. He'd learned a while ago to speak, and not sneak up on her. She packed a mean punch.

"Hello, handsome," she replied after he released her.

"Whoa now," Tony said, coming around the corner at just that moment. "You should be glad I wasn't Gibbs or the Director."

"They both know," Noah said. "They don't seem to care."

"That is so weird," Tony said. "I mean, Gibbs suddenly doesn't have a problem with interoffice relationships? What is that about? He's given McGeek and Abby his freakin' seal of approval, and now he doesn't have a problem with you?"

"Maybe he's mellowing," Ziva suggested. Tony gave her a look that questioned her intelligence.

"Gibbs does not mellow, Ziva," he responded. "There has to be something else going on."

"Maybe he wants us to learn our own lessons; make our own mistakes," she suggested.

"I doubt that," Tony said. "No, he's waiting for his moment. Something's going down," he continued, still suspicious.

"I'm not planning anything, DiNozzo," Gibbs said, joining them. "No one listens to me anyway," he added, smacking him on the back of the head. One half of his mouth turned up into a sideways smile. "I figure if they want each other badly enough to incur my wrath, they're gonna do it anyway. What am I supposed to do, fire half my team?" he questioned, walking out of the hallway. The others automatically followed, heading back to their desks.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

"I miss our bickering," Kate said, giving Tony the look she used to give him before.

"We didn't bicker," he objected. "We were venting our sexual frustration the only way we knew how."

"Well, YOU might have been venting, but I was bickering," she teased. "We bickered long before I wanted you."

"I disagree," he said shaking his head. He smiled a knowing smile. "You wanted me from the moment you laid eyes on me. It's the DiNozzo charm; it got to you."

Kate rolled her eyes. "Not exactly," she admitted. "I wanted you IN SPITE of the DiNozzo charm, and it took a while." She paused a moment, then continued, "You wanted ME from the moment you met me."

"Yeah, you're right," he immediately admitted, making her laugh. "Kate, I don't want to lose you again," he said, changing the mood.

"Oh, Tony, please," Kate said frustrated. "Can't you just accept my being here as the gift that it is, and be happy for a while?"

"I'll try," he said quietly.

"DiNozzo!" Gibbs' shout interrupted their conversation.

"Yeah, boss?" he asked, rushing back toward his desk.

"What are you doing?" he asked, as if he didn't already know the answer. He turned to address the whole team, "We just got a bizarre tip. Someone is requesting NCIS check out a routine carjacking down on Fourth Street. The caller claims there's a marine in the trunk of the vehicle, but refuses to state how he knows. DiNozzo, put out a BOLO on the vehicle; a 2003 black Lexus, we have a partial plate – last two letters 'C P'. I have Abby trying to see what she can track down about the caller. McGee, see if you can get either traffic or satellite images of the actual carjacking. Maggie; Noah; Ziva; grab your gear. Let's go," he said stepping onto the elevator. "DiNozzo, you better have something when I get back!" he shouted as the doors closed.

Tires squealed as Gibbs pulled up at the scene. "Noah; interview witnesses. Ziva; photographs –be sure and get the tracks. Maggie, come with me," he ordered, making his way to the police officer that appeared to be in charge of the investigation.

"NCIS," Gibbs said, flashing his badge.

"NCIS?" the man questioned. "A local thug jacked a car from a local business owner. What does that have to do with NCIS?"

"I'm Special Agent Gibbs; this is Agent Sullivan," Gibbs said politely. "We have reason to believe there may have been a marine in the trunk of the stolen vehicle."

"I'm Lieutenant Harold Wheeler, or should I say Lance Corporal Harold Wheeler, United States Marine Corps," he said as he saluted.

"You're a marine?" Gibbs said approvingly.

"Formerly, sir," he responded.

"There is no such thing, Wheeler," Gibbs smiled. "I don't want to step on your toes, Lieutenant, but I'm going to need to take the lead on this investigation. If we do have a marine missing, injured or murdered, I can't…"

"Not a problem, sir," Lt. Wheeler interrupted. "I'd be honored to have NCIS take over. We'll cooperate as much as we can, and try to stay out of the way."

"Excellent," Gibbs said, patting the guy on the back. He turned to Maggie, "See if you can get any further information from the police." He walked away, examining the scene.

"Hey, Boss," Noah said, approaching Gibbs. "The thief was a young, African-American by the name of Tyrone Winters. He's kind of well-known in the area for being up to no good. None of the witnesses know anything at all about a marine in the trunk. No, I didn't ask that point blank, but I know they are telling me everything they know. The police released the owner of the vehicle, a Carl Wooldridge, so I didn't get to speak with him. I called Tony and he is attempting to track him down. We've called Mr. Wooldridge's office, but he hasn't returned to work. DiNozzo is on his way over there right now."

"Maggie!" Gibbs shouted. She quickly concluded her conversation and made her way to him.

"Yes, sir?" she asked.

"What did you find out about Mr. Wooldridge?"

"He reported the vehicle stolen outside his place of business earlier this morning. Tyrone Winters carjacked the car from the person who stole it," she said with a shrug.

"Diamond!" Gibbs shouted. "What did the witnesses say about the driver of the vehicle when it was stolen?"

"He was Caucasian, of average height and build, wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and jeans. He parked outside the convenient store for a few moments. When he came back out, Mr. Winters was in the process of stealing the car. He tried to intervene, but was knocked down. By the time the police arrived, he had fled the scene."

"Twenty bucks says he's our anonymous tipper," Gibbs speculated.

"Possibly," Ziva said. "But why would the guy want the marine to be found by NCIS?"

"Maybe he didn't want to actually hurt the guy?" Noah suggested.

"Or maybe he's trying to get our attention," Maggie said ominously.

---

"Jaime," Maggie said into the phone. "I'm not going to make it this evening. We've got a case. It'll probably be a late one. Make yourselves at home and don't wait up," she said, trying to get back off the line quickly.

"Maggie," Jaime finally was able to break in. "There's another reason we're here," he explained. "It's about Lenny. He resurfaced," he began.

"Oh God," Maggie said, sinking back into her seat.

"He's gone loose cannon," he continued. "Molly's dead," he said softly. "As is Darcy," he continued. Tears streamed down Maggie's cheeks as she listened, not making a sound.

"Did you kill him?" she asked, quiet fury in her voice.

"Not yet," he responded, his voice determined.

"So you didn't tell me at lunch because…?" Maggie began to question.

"We thought we would be able to tell you tonight, when you didn't have to go back in to work. Look," he said, "we want you to take a few weeks off. Morgan and I will…"

"No!" Maggie interrupted. "I refuse to put my life on hold because…"

"Maggie, you know he'll come after you…"

"Let him come," Maggie said, her voice flat and defiant. "I'd like to have a little conversation with him."

"Maggie, there's more," Jaime said. She could hear the hesitancy in his voice.

"What is it?" she asked softly.

"He's not using his wolf anymore," he began. Maggie crinkled her brow in confusion. "Someone's made him," he said so quietly that a normal person couldn't have heard him.

"What?!" Maggie said into the phone. "Who would do that? There are standards and rules – reasons we do the things we do," Maggie ranted. "I gotta go, thanks Jaime." She disconnected and stormed over to Noah. "We need to talk," she said, grabbing him by the arm. "Gibbs, can you join us?" she requested, without giving him much of a chance to decline. They got into the elevator, started heading down and Maggie hit the stop button.

"What's up with everyone using my conference room," Gibbs quipped.

"This is serious," Maggie said. "It's not related to a case, but I need some answers from Noah, need to get him working on something and I wanted to give you both a heads up."

"Okay…" Noah said. "Maggie, if…"

She interrupted him. "We have a loose cannon," she explained to Noah. "But he's not using his wolf. Someone made him, Noah. I need to know if you know anything about this, or if you know who might do something like that. I have to…"

"Maggie, slow down," Noah said. "You're serious?" he queried. "Someone actually made a werewolf?" Seeing the truth in her face, his expression hardened. "I can personally guarantee this wasn't one of my people. Or if it was, they won't be 'my people' for long. And I vow to get to the bottom of this. Whichever master has done this will be executed at my hand," he promised.

"Wait," Gibbs interjected. "Are you saying someone turned a werewolf into a vampire?"

"Exactly," Noah confirmed.

"There's more," Maggie added. "I know the guy. We have a sort of history. His mother was a pupil of mine when I still lived in Ireland. She went away to University and was gang-raped by a bunch of thugs. When it was discovered that she was pregnant, she didn't want the baby. But, of course, the family insisted on her birthing and rearing the child. His name is Lenny. He's always been different. We had hoped not to have to kill him, even when it was apparent he had a penchant for hurting people. We taught him control, but you can't teach someone to have a conscience," she swallowed. "He became obsessed with me. When I rebuffed his advances, he tried to rape me. He has attacked me four times. Each time he has assaulted me, I've defeated him and he's been punished by our people. He dropped off our radar about five years ago. Apparently he has recently resurfaced. He has already murdered his own mother, Molly, and my best friend, Darcy. Jaime and Morgan are fairly certain that his entire game has me at its center, and they're probably right. They want me to go into hiding, but I have refused." She made eye contact with each of them. "It is very important, Noah, that we find out which master made him and stop him. Also, I'm the first to admit I'm pretty tough, but I could probably use a little extra protection right now," she admitted.

"You're asking for help?" Gibbs asked, shocked. She giggled.

"Yeah, I am," she said. "This is bigger than me. Bigger than all of us. I know we have a case right now, and I'm…"

"Don't worry about it," Gibbs interrupted. "But until we catch this guy, you aren't to leave my side. Noah, get out of here and check with your people. Let us know something as soon as you can." He restarted the elevator and shook his head. "You'll be fine," he said, rubbing her shoulder. 'No one is going to hurt you,' he thought. 'Not on my watch.'


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

"So the guys who you left with earlier…?" Gibbs questioned, after he had led Maggie back to an empty office.

"My brother, Morgan, and Jaime," she smiled, trying to think how to describe Jaime. "Jaime is a distant cousin. He, Darcy and I were all born the same year, and went through the family school and training together. We were like the three musketeers," she smiled in remembrance. "People always thought Jaime and I would end up together. We always fought like cats and dogs, yet defended one another. But in the end it was the quiet one, Darcy, that he went for," Maggie continued. "I thought I loved Jaime so much in those days, and was devastated when they first fell in love. In the end, that was what gave me the courage to forge out on my own. In retrospect, I realized the feelings I had for Jaime were really more like friendship, and that I wanted him to be happy with Darcy. In the end, Darcy ran off with Tommy O'Donnell and Jaime flitted from relationship to relationship. We made much better friends anyway, the three of us." Her smile faded to sadness. "I can't believe that little numskull killed her," she said, her thoughts going back to Lenny.

"Stay here for as long as you need," he said, rising to go. "Call me if you need anything. I'll be right down the hall."

She smiled. "Thanks, Mom," she said, chuckling as he left.

---

"What have we got, people?" he barked to the office. "Any closer to finding the marine?"

"DiNozzo has tracked down Mr. Wooldridge and is bringing him in for questioning," Ziva began, "and Noah took off to God knows where," she added.

"Don't worry about Diamond," Gibbs said. "He's on something different. He may be out of touch for a few days. McGee!"

"Yeah, Boss; I was able to obtain visuals from the scene, but they're kind of grainy. Abby has been working to get the picture clearer."

"We need this two hours ago, McGee," he continued. "Our marine may be running out of air." He paused when McGee sat there. "Go help her," he said frustrated.

---

"Gibbs!" Abby said loudly over her music as Gibbs walked into her lab. "Just in time! I was able to trace the call from the tip we received to a prepaid cell phone, so that isn't going to help us with the caller's identity. But," she rushed ahead, "McGee and I have succeeded in clearing the image of the original car thief. It's a profile view, but we're running it against every database we know of."

"Abs, how long?" he asked impatiently.

"Maybe another two hours?" she proposed quietly.

"Our marine could be dead by then, if he isn't already."

"I know," she said, "I'm working as fast as I can."

"Call me!" he barked, heading back out.

---

Maggie made her way down to Abby's lab. Gibbs wasn't sending any work her way, and she really wanted to help with the investigation.

"Hey, Abs, what's up," she said coming to stand next to Abby.

"Just trying to identify a dirt bag," she said, motioning toward the screen. Maggie took a look and froze in her tracks.

"Oh my God!" she said, bracing herself against the counter. She grabbed Abby's phone, "Gibbs, get down here stat!" she shouted into the receiver before slamming it back down. Abby cocked an eyebrow and gave her a look.

"What was that all about?" she questioned, surprised at the authoritative quality in Maggie's voice. Maggie just stared, her mind reeling. A moment later, Gibbs, Ziva, McGee and Director Shepard rushed into the lab.

"What do you have?" Gibbs demanded, knowing it had to be a big deal to get that kind of reaction.

"It's him; it's Lenny," Maggie explained. She began pacing the room, like a nervous cat. "You can stop searching, Abs, he won't be in any database." She turned to face them. "Gibbs, he did this intentionally. If he becomes wanted by the government, he can't just disappear. He's trying to protect himself and taunt me at the same time. I think he orchestrated this just to involve NCIS." She paused for effect. "I expect the marine is either a fictitious ploy to get our attention, or already dead; probably the latter."

"We'll see," Gibbs said. The others looked on, confused. Gibbs looked out and sighed.

"Jenny, I was planning to brief you on this matter later, but hadn't made it yet," he began.

"Just tell us now, Jethro," she placated him.

"The man's name is Lenny…?" he trailed off, realizing he didn't know the man's last name.

"Lenny McMullen," Maggie finished.

"Maggie, do you mind?" he asked, suggesting she finish briefing the others.

Maggie explained Lenny's background and history with her to the others. She continued, "To add insult to injury, some rogue vampire has apparently made one of Lenny. Noah will find the master vampire responsible and take of things on his end, which will also help us locate and control Lenny," she sighed. "Director," she said to Jenny, "we have no choice but to execute this man. If either the werewolves or the vampires find him first, it will already be handled. I would suggest we file a report on this tip as a hoax and bury anything we find. I will notify NPID, who will not allow it to become known, even to other government agencies, that preternatural creatures exist. Additionally, we need to be vigilant. It is likely we will see several random victims in the area until we catch him. We need to get there first and clear any evidence of the preternatural before the police can respond. Does that make sense?" She paused, waiting for comprehension to show on their faces.

"Until we catch this guy, Agent Sullivan is to go nowhere alone," Director Shepard said. "I think you're right about a cover-up being necessary. We'll keep it out of our official reports. No one but our team will know the truth," she said authoritatively.

"Agreed," Gibbs said. "But we still have to find that vehicle as soon as possible. If there is a marine out there, it's that much more important that we get there first." Everyone scattered back to their workstations, the atmosphere grim with an undercurrent of tension. Each knew how much was at stake.

---

Noah crossed the threshold into the large, spacious room. Power and fury emanated off him in waves, causing the masters who had gathered to feel a mixture of fear and anticipation. He walked to the front of the room and then turned to address the group.

"We are here for one reason and one reason alone. I will not belabor the inevitable, but will get right to the point. Someone has made a werewolf; and an unstable one at that. This creature has gone loose cannon, and is using our methods to kill."

Noah paused, opening his mind to the others, allowing them to feel the full extent of the truth of his words as well as his anger. "I will not have our existence exposed at this time, and certainly not in this manner. The master who made this creature will come forward and take responsibility for his or her actions. This creature will be stopped. Today," he added, his voice leaving no room for argument. The room erupted in discussion, questions and speculation. After a moment, a lady stood and moved across the room toward Noah.

"Estelle," Noah called her by name. "you may speak."

"Master," she began. "I believe Rupert is the one you seek. He has been struggling against my authority for some time. After his last punishment, he has broken contact," she said, her head low.

"Why was I not notified?" he questioned.

"I wanted to handle the situation myself. He is not the first of mine to begin to question my power and ability to maintain control," she admitted. He nodded, understanding her need to establish authority.

"We need to locate Rupert," he said, feeling the power flow out of her as she searched.

She shook her head, "I cannot feel him," she said. He joined hands with her, merging his power with hers. The others in the room were taken aback by the outpouring of power.

"Thank you, Estelle," Noah said, once he had formed a mental lock on Rupert's location. He rose to leave. "Come with me, in case you are needed," he commanded.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Armed with full knowledge of Rupert's plans, a mental lock on his location, years of experience and complete confidence Noah Diamond led his party into the foyer of the old, abandoned Victorian house, ready for a fight. The smell of death barely permeated the strong smells of 'old' – mildew, dust and stale air. Noah stopped and turned to face Estelle. Rupert still seemed blatantly unaware of the fact that they were tracking him. Because of the skills required to do so, he had expected Rupert to be overconfident. But he hadn't expected them to walk into his lair without his knowledge. It was too easy. They made their way to the basement, the smell of death growing more and more pungent. Waves of power rocked the others as Noah and Estelle sent out a warning to Rupert.

"He's not here," Noah said, incredulously. They searched the room. They found the bodies of nine young men and women, none over the age of 19. Noah's anger was palpable.

"How did he…?" Estelle began to question.

Noah turned to Estelle, "Have you released him from your control?"

"No," she replied immediately. "I swear, he has tried to usurp my position, but I have never released him."

"He is part of my line and, therefore, directly under my authority. He will be located and this will be taken care of." Noah slowly perused the scene before him. He examined each body one by one, looking for any clue as to what could have happened outside of the obvious. He turned to one of the others, "Malcolm?" he questioned.

Malcolm closed his eyes, his body beginning to vibrate slightly from the use of his power. His eyes suddenly opened as he made his way around the room. "There were only two of them, Rupert and another. I can only assume him to be the wolf. They played with them," he said, before continuing. "They took away their free will, luring them to the house using Rupert's mind control. They were trapped and then bound. They watched as one by one they were taken to the front of the group, raped, fed from and left to die of blood loss. So strong was Rupert's mental hold on them, they each continued to participate as if they truly wished it," Malcom paused, disgusted with the images flashing through his mind. Noah's eyes flashed with righteous indignation.

"This is where rumors begin, and fiction writers gain more fodder with which to malign our kind," he stated. "This is the reason we have to discipline our own so severely," he shook his head, saddened by the loss of human life. "Estelle, ultimately Rupert is your responsibility. I am giving you the task of taking care of this mess, as well as the families of the victims," Noah ordered. She nodded in compliance. "Malcolm," he turned to the other man, "can you tell what happened after the deaths?"

"The wolf left hurriedly, while Rupert took some time. He walked a perimeter around the room," he stated, confused.

"He has left a mental stamp of his presence here," Noah agreed. "We need to find his true location. He is more powerful than when I last was in his presence."

Estelle left off working with the bodies to join Noah. There was another outpouring of power as they searched for his true location, this one even stronger than the first. Noah focused his frustration and determination into his power, causing it to increase even further. He could feel Rupert, but could not quite ascertain his location. But due to his link with Lenny, he could now feel him. And Lenny was too new to know how to hide his tracks. He locked in on the 'younger' man, his fury and concern for Maggie making him all the more determined to stop him.

"Oh God," Noah said. He reached out telepathically to Abby, which was not easily accomplished from three states away. 'Abby! Tell Gibbs to stay with Maggie no matter what! They have Morgan. Jaime is injured and lying unconscious on the ground in front of Maggie's house. Don't tell Maggie until Gibbs decides it's okay, or she WILL go after them. Tell Gibbs they do have a marine, although I've been unable to get his identity. He's still alive, but they are torturing him. Right now, they are in the basement of an office building not far from there. The building is currently for lease. I don't know the physical address, but I'm working on it.'

---

"Whaddya' got?" Gibbs answered, when Abby buzzed his phone.

"I need to see you without Maggie," Abby said.

"On my way," he said, rising to go.

"I don't think so," Maggie stopped him. "What's going on?"

"I need to see Abby," Gibbs explained, realizing Maggie had heard Abby's request for him to come without her. "DiNozzo! Stay with Maggie, HERE! Do not come to the lab," he ordered, giving Maggie a look that commanded obedience.

Maggie began pacing, as Gibbs disappeared into the stairwell. "God, he drives me crazy!" she said. Her mind was running about a hundred miles a minute in twenty-seven different directions. 'Was it Lenny? What had happened? Noah! He was probably communicating directly with Abby. Oh God!' She sank into her chair, drumming her fingernails on the surface of the desk.

---

Gibbs burst back through the door of the stairwell only minutes after leaving.

"Grab your gear!" he barked. "McGee, take Ziva and head to Sullivan's house. Pick up Jaime O'Leary and bring him here," he avoided Maggie's gaze. "He's been injured, but we can care for him here and he'll heal quickly. DiNozzo, you're with me!" He looked at Maggie, not certain what to do. "Sullivan, come with us," he said, thinking she would be safer with him and Tony, and knowing if he didn't take her she was liable to go alone. "McMullen and his 'master'," he emphasized the word, not comfortable with the whole vampire thing, "have taken Morgan Sullivan." His eyes met Maggie's, all her concern showing behind sheen of unshed tears. At that moment, Abby joined them in the bullpen.

"Gibbs," she implored. "You really need to take me with you. I'm your only way of communicating with Noah," she reasoned.

"Then get a move on," he said, slapping her gently on the back of the head. She smiled big and rushed onto the elevator next to Tony. Gibbs said a silent prayer for their safety. They were heading into unfamiliar territory.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

"I thought you said Jaime easily kicked Noah's butt once?" DiNozzo questioned. "How much stronger must this Lenny-guy be?"

Maggie chuckled. "Noah doesn't fight dirty," she explained. "A werewolf in human form and a vampire are on a pretty even keel in a fair fight. But when the vampire can incapacitate his opponent mentally without ever touching him, it's hard for the wolf to defend himself," her voice broke on the last word. "If he hurts Morgan, I'll tear his throat out." She paused, "Well, I'm already going to kill him, but if he hurts Morgan I'll make him hurt before he dies," she promised.

Tony shook his head. He was glad she wasn't going after him. The look in her eyes would be enough to stop most men in their tracks.

"Turn left," Abby commanded, as Gibbs jerked the wheel to get into the proper lane. She was allowing Noah to see through her eyes. "Okay, it's on the corner a couple of blocks… THERE!" she shouted, spotting the building.

Hands gripped the dashboard, knuckles white, as Gibbs squealed in next to the building. They jumped out of the vehicle, weapons drawn. Maggie allowed the others to exit the vehicle, leaving the door slightly ajar. She quickly removed her clothes and changed into her wolf. She nosed through the open door, allowing it to close behind her, and bounded down the sidewalk to the entrance, where Tony was holding the door for her.

---

They heard the cries before they could see the open stairway that led to the basement. Maggie whined.

"Morgan?" Gibbs asked. She shook her head, 'no'. Gibbs pushed Abby back behind him, motioning to Tony to check the doorway. After confirming the way was clear, he started down the stairs. Maggie fell in behind him, followed by Gibbs and Abby. They heard footsteps. Tony stopped and looked at Maggie. She could tell from the smells that there were three people in the basement: Lenny, Morgan and a third, presumably the marine. She nodded three times to Tony, who nodded back in understanding. She nudged past him, making her way into the basement. Her brother, Morgan, was lying in the far right corner in a pool of his own blood. She could hear his heart beating and knew he was alive, but could smell his fear. She saw the third man tied to a post in the corner of the room. He had been brutalized, and was barely hanging on to consciousness.

She turned her attention to Lenny and snarled. She sidestepped to get out of the line of fire from the rest of the team, and then growled deep in the back of her throat. Lenny couldn't take his eyes off her, fascinated. He laughed, showing some of the madness that had taken over him. She felt the power of his mind try to take her over, and pushed back with all that she had. She pounced him, claws tearing deeply into his abdomen. He laughed, throwing her off him. He shouldn't have been that strong. Again she felt him invade her mind, and this time she was having trouble holding him back. She leapt again, even more determined to take him out. She grabbed for his upper torso with her teeth, hoping for his throat. Instead, she left large, gaping marks down his right shoulder as he shoved her away from him. Gibbs and DiNozzo took that moment to open fire on Lenny, although the bullets did little to slow him down. They did distract him enough for Maggie to attack once again, without having to fight him mentally. Claws tore his flesh, his left arm now hanging only by fragments of tendons and skin. Still, he laughed.

Abby watched the scene with a mixture of fear and excitement. Noah's voice echoed in her mind. 'See the gas can by the far wall? Pour the fuel on him and use the flame thrower in Gibbs' bag to set him on fire," Noah instructed. 'Gibbs has a flame thrower?' she questioned. 'He does now,' he answered, as Abby made her way to the gas can. Gibbs saw her moving and started to panic, fearing for her safety. Then he noticed the flame thrower in her hand and the gas can along the wall. He crossed in front of her, providing cover, and nodded to her in encouragement.

Lenny began walking slowly toward Maggie, her snarl relaxing. She lay on the floor as if doing a trick for a master, whimpering. She began to switch forms. Lenny laughed; he was in control. Bullets continued to strike him repeatedly from the rear, as Gibbs and DiNozzo tried to keep him away from Maggie. When DiNozzo realized Maggie was no longer fighting, he moved as if to attack Lenny himself. Gibbs held him back, motioning to Abby, who was now armed with the means to permanently take out the insane creature. Tony nodded.

"Now," Gibbs whispered, hoping Lenny was too distracted by madness to notice Abby's approach. She splashed the gasoline on his back and fired the flame thrower to life. Lenny screamed as his body burst into flames. He continued to focus intently on Maggie. Gibbs knew the fire would kill him, but didn't know how long it would take or how much damage he could do to her in the meantime. He tackled Lenny, pulling him away from Maggie. He immediately rolled away, putting the fire out of is own clothes, as Abby hit Lenny with more flames. He screamed again, crawling toward Maggie's naked, unconscious form. DiNozzo kicked him away from her. Lenny grabbed his foot, twisted it and sent him flying across the room. He hit the far wall, his head making a loud impact as his body slowly slid to the floor. Abby rushed to his side, checking for a pulse.

"He's okay," she told Gibbs, tears in her voice.

Gibbs grabbed the flame thrower from where Abby had dropped it when she ran to check on DiNozzo. He turned to Lenny, his eyes full of anger. Gibbs stepped between the crazed man and the focus of his attentions, the flame thrower providing a wall of protection around them. Lenny screamed one last time, as he succumbed to the flames and fell to the floor. Abby grabbed the sword from Gibbs' bag and decapitated him without a second thought. Gibbs looked at her in surprise.

"It had to be done," she explained through her tears. "Stupid Lenny," she cursed him, spitting on his head.

Gibbs chuckled. He crossed to check on Maggie. With the exception of some nasty bruises, she was fine. She was simply unconscious from being forced to change forms so quickly.

Gibbs then crossed the room to check on the marine. His heart was still beating, but he needed to be hospitalized quickly. He had no idea what needed to be done to cover up the nature of his wounds. He performed some basic first aid and prepared him to be moved. Gibbs then crossed the room to join Abby next to DiNozzo. He confirmed that his leg was definitely broken, along with at least two ribs. And he probably had a concussion.

Gibbs left Tony in Abby's arms and went to check on Morgan. The werewolf had regained consciousness and had begun healing, although he still had a long way to go. Gibbs helped him sit up. He stood and surveyed the room, and then picked up the phone to call for help.

"Nice job," Noah said, as he and his party entered the room. They immediately began setting the place to rights, altering the wounds on the victim and assisting with the healing of the others. Noah reset Tony's broken bone, causing Abby to wince. Estelle carried Morgan to the back seat of Gibbs' car for transport back to NCIS, while Noah called an ambulance for Tony and the marine. Gibbs removed his shirt and put it on Maggie, and then carried her out and put her in the front seat of his car next to Abby.

Noah stayed behind to ride in the ambulance with the marine, and to do damage control with the police. He thought about the look on Gibbs' face when he arrived. As thankful as he was that they had succeeded in stopping Lenny, he wondered how he was supposed to tell his boss about Rupert.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

"How are you feeling?" Maggie asked Jaime.

He pulled himself into a sitting position, scooting so that his back was held up by the frame of the bed that had been set up for him at the NCIS offices. She moved to sit beside him. Morgan, in the adjacent bed, was sleeping soundly.

"Better now," he said, as Maggie snuggled in beside him. He allowed his arm to fall around her shoulders. She leaned against his side and let out her breath.

"You scared the pee out of me, Jaime," she said chuckling.

"How do you think I felt when I woke up here and found out you had gone after Morgan without me?" he asked, his frustration showing in his voice. "I don't know how I could have lived with myself if Lenny had killed you or Morgan, or if he had…" his voice broke.

"Shhh…" Maggie quieted him. She raised her lips to his and kissed him gently. "Everyone's okay," she reminded him.

He looked into her eyes and smiled in that way she had always loved. "I adore you, Maggie Sullivan," he said.

"I know," she sighed, making them both laugh.

"Do I need to get a private room?" Morgan asked, having awakened during the conversation.

"Of course not," Maggie answered, giggling. She completely missed the look that passed between the two men. She rose from Jaime's side and went to check on her brother. "How are you?"

"I've been better, but I'm healing," he stated the obvious.

"Well, you two rest so you can get out of here," she ordered, wagging her pointer finger at them. "I actually have work to do."

"Party pooper," Morgan accused, pretending to pout. Maggie laughed out loud.

"You're too old to pout, big brother," she said. "It doesn't suit you."

---

"You mean to tell me that there is some crazy vampire on the loose, doing all the things you swore to me that vampires don't really do?!" Gibbs asked sternly.

"That's correct," Noah responded. He had explained the situation to Gibbs as best he could to someone who didn't know how things worked in preternatural circles.

"So the only difference between truth and fiction is your ability to control the vampires in your line, and you are finding yourself unable to do that?" he questioned.

Noah's face hardened. "He will be found and the situation taken into control. He will be made an example of. I will not have everything we have built over the course of five centuries destroyed by one," he assured Gibbs, his voice vibrating with anger.

"Then get to it," Gibbs ordered. Noah left the building more determined than ever to stop Rupert.

---

Gibbs shook his head and smiled. Sometimes you had to be a little hard to get results, but it could be fun sometimes. He still wasn't sure how he felt about Agent Diamond and the whole "vampire" thing. He knew he didn't like him around any of the women on his team – not Abby, Ziva, Maggie or Jenny. And it didn't help that he seemed to have a close relationship with each of them. Diamond had shown himself to be reliable, resourceful and trustworthy in the line of duty, but Jethro wasn't sure he liked the fact that the other man could manipulate the thoughts and feelings of others. His thoughts were interrupted when his phone buzzed.

"Hey Abs," he answered, a smile in his voice. He was picturing her with the flame thrower pack across her shoulder, weapon in hand, toasting their latest deviant.

"Gibbs, I need to talk to you," she informed him.

"I'll be there in a few," he said, rushing out to grab a Caf-Pow! before going to the forensics lab.

---

"I'm telling you, the boy has talent," Abby admitted. She and Maggie giggled like high school students sharing a secret.

"I'm sure he does," Maggie said, trying not to picture what Abby was telling her. It's never good to imagine your best friend's lover in that way.

"I'm serious," she qualified. "You should kiss him; just once. But you can't enjoy it," she ordered, then continued, "well, good luck not enjoying it, but he is amazing," Abby said seriously.

"I'm not going to kiss your man just so you can prove how good he is at it," Maggie shook her head, laughing.

"But you should! I wouldn't mind!" Abby insisted.

Maggie continued to laugh and slowly shake her head, not believing her friend.

"Wouldn't mind, what, Abs?" Gibbs questioned, handing her the Caf-Pow!

"I think Maggie should kiss Tim," Abby said excitedly. "He is totally amazing and I feel like no one can understand when I…"

Maggie was laughing softly in the background, especially after catching the confused expression on Gibbs' face.

"I don't think so, Abs," he interrupted. "It doesn't work that way. Besides, I thought you ladies didn't kiss and tell," he smiled at Abby.

"Of course we do," Abby said, and then smiled knowingly.

Gibbs looked seriously uncomfortable. Maggie laughed even harder knowing he thought Abby knew about their kiss. Of course, she hadn't told anyone – not even Abby. But he clearly didn't know that.

"Is that what you called me down here for, Abs, because I'm not really in the kissing mood?" he interjected, his voice strained.

"Of course not," Abby said. Her face fell as she thought about her real reason for bringing him to her lab. She met Maggie's eyes, and then they both turned to face Gibbs. "I think Kate is gone," she said softly. "And I don't know how to tell Tony."

---

Noah, Estelle and Malcolm made their way to the abandoned church to which they had tracked Rupert.

"He's here," Estelle confirmed, looking to the others.

"Let's do this," Noah commanded, taking the lead. They burst through the doors to find Rupert with about six new vampires.

As their leader, Rupert ordered them to attack.

Noah shook his head, "Do you really think you can attack us, your masters, with new vampires?" he questioned, a laugh behind his confident expression. Noah waved his hand, using his blood authority to command the vampires using only his thoughts. All six fell prostrate on the floor and lay trembling under his power. Rupert's eyes reflected shock and fear. Noah wasn't sure why he thought he had enough power to stand against him, but was pretty sure he now knew he was wrong.

Rupert fell to his knees in front of Noah, "I'm sorry, master; I beg your forgiveness."

"Estelle is your master! I am hers. My presence should not be required!" Noah shouted. "And the time for forgiveness has long passed." Noah turned to Estelle, "Take care of him," he commanded quietly.

He watched as Estelle asserted her authority and executed the vampire who had once faithfully served her, as well as the six new vampires he had just made. Noah's conscience grieved at the loss of life, but he knew it was necessary. At least the immediate threat had been eliminated. He left, not bothering to communicate the information to Abby. He would see them soon enough.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Gibbs sat alone in an empty office, coffee in hand, reviewing his thoughts. Noah had been sulking since the wrap up of the last case. He wasn't sure why. Ziva had been cold and withdrawn, which was very unusual. Abby had been sad since she had to have that terrible discussion with Tony about Kate. And Kate was very definitely gone. Her loss was felt throughout the office. Tony hadn't been in the office in a week; he was in mourning all over again. McGee had been trying to console Abby, but was having a particularly difficult time because he was never able to see Kate's ghost.

Maggie was the only one who seemed normal, and that almost disturbed him as much as the others being so depressed did. Morgan and Jaime had left to go back to Ireland, she was missing Kate, she was spending an inordinate amount of time checking on Tony – yet she seemed to be taking things all in stride. He supposed it had something to do with her maturity, but it grated on his nerves.

It bothered him that she was able to push her attraction for him away so easily. Maybe it was male ego, but it was like she just shut it off after he treated her so badly. So he had convinced himself that she had feelings for Jaime. But when she had the opportunity to move forward with that, she made it clear that wasn't where her heart was. The more he thought about it, the more it unnerved him. What right did she have to just shut him down after a little misunderstanding? Sure, he had told her under no uncertain terms that he did not want to be involved with someone at work. She could just be obeying his wishes – but it shouldn't be easy for her.

He laughed to himself at that thought. He was upset because Sullivan was doing what he asked. No. He was upset because it wasn't as hard for her to stay away from him as it was for him to stay away from her. That was the problem.

---

"Hey babe," McGee said, pulling Abby into his arms. "Thanks for the dream last night, which was particularly amazing," he said, kissing her deeply.

"And thank you for the wake up this morning, which was even better," she said, after she could breathe again. "How's Tony?" she asked, knowing McGee had stopped by on his way in to the office.

"He was passed out, drunk, on the sofa," he answered hesitantly, not wanting to hurt her feelings.

"I wish there was a better way," Abby said, a tear running down her cheek. McGee brushed the tear away with his thumb.

"Honey, you and Maggie have done everything you can for him. You've been going by to clean his place, give him meals and do his laundry," he said, rubbing her shoulders. "At some point he is going to have to snap out of it."

"Tim!" Abby said, pushing back to look into his face, her mouth hanging open in shock. "He lost Kate right after they found each other again. It's so tragic…" she began.

"He's right, Abby," Gibbs said, interrupting. "We've all experienced loss, and it hurts, but we have to cope."

"Gibbs!" Abby exclaimed in protest. "You of all people should know how he's feeling…" she began, before being interrupted again.

"Abby," Gibbs said sternly. "We need to back off Tony for a while. I know it seems harsh, but I don't want any of you going back over there until I give the word. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Boss," Abby and McGee said in unison.

"Let's get to work, Tim," Gibbs said, heading for the door.

---

Once again alone in her lab, Abby picked up Bert and hugged him closely. Her thoughts traveled back to the conversation with Tony that she would never forget.

"_Tony, can we talk," Abby said, leading him to Maggie's couch. They had invited him to have dinner at Maggie's thinking that the conversation would be more comfortable outside the workplace._

"_Sure," he said as he leaned back, putting an arm each around Abby and Maggie._

"_It's about Kate," she said softly, watching his face. Tony winced, and sat up straight, pulling his arms into his lap._

"_She's gone, Tony," she told him quietly._

"_No, she's just trying to find a way to stay," he rationalized, knowing deep down that she was right._

"_The entire time she was searching for answers I could still communicate with her, Tony," Abby explained. "But not…"_

"_She'll be back, Abby," Tony said, rising to his feet. "You don't know how hard we've fought to be together. There's no way she could be gone permanently."_

"_Tony, I don't want it to be true either, but…"_

"_No buts!" he shouted. "I don't want to live in a world without Kate! I finally understand what all the fuss has been about. For the first time I know what it's like to love someone. Truly love someone."_

"_Tony!" Abby interrupted, tears falling unchecked. "Kate died two years ago. You were blessed to get to resolve your feelings in the first place…" she began._

"_Blessed?! Is that what you call it?!" Tony spat angrily. "I had put those feelings to rest, Abby. I had convinced myself that I could move on and then suddenly there she was again. She made all my dreams reality." He sank into a leather armchair and dissolved into tears. "I would rather not have known how love felt than to have to live without her now."_

"_That's not true, Tony," Maggie said softly. "I know it seems that way right now, but the time will come when…"_

"_The time will never come, Maggie!" he shouted. "I will never get over this." He grabbed his things and stormed out the door._

Abby knew Tony had climbed into a bottle and had yet to resurface. He was so angry, yet she felt that deep down he already knew about Kate before they talked to him. She prayed God would take care of him. Especially now that Gibbs wouldn't let the rest of them do it.

---

"Ziva, please," Noah asked for the fifteenth time. "Just talk to me."

"I can't, Noah, okay," she explained. "If I talk to you, I'll agree to whatever you say. You are too irresistible."

Noah smiled. "Well, that's not a problem, is it?"

"Of course it is!" Ziva explained, exasperated. She walked away from him, but he quickly caught her. He pulled her into his arms and grabbed her chin with his hand, forcing her to look at him.

"Ziva David, look at me," he said insistently. She closed her eyes.

"No," she said, trying to pull away. His held her firmly, but gently. Not allowing her to move, but causing her as little pain as possible.

"Ziva, please just tell me what I did," he said confused.

"You didn't do anything, Noah," she admitted, still refusing to open her eyes. Her body had already begun to betray her by responding to the closeness of his. She was trembling, and she hated it. "The problem is wholly mine."

"Sort of an 'it's not you, it's me' speech? That's odd for you," he said, trying to reason everything out. "If I let you go, do you promise not to run away?" he asked.

"No," she said. "But if you don't let me go, I promise to kill you in your sleep," she threatened. He chuckled.

"That's the Ziva I know," he released her, watching her intently as she strode quickly past him and to her desk without another word. He wished he could still hear her thoughts, but he had taught her too well how to guard them. He needed to get her to open up to him, but had no idea how.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

"Ziva!" Maggie rushed to catch up with her. "Ziva," she said again, touching her arm. Ziva turned to Maggie with tears streaming down her cheeks. "What's wrong?"

"Noah is what's wrong. I can't stay away from him," she explained.

"I thought you and he were…" Maggie began.

"We were," Ziva confirmed.

"Did something happen?" Maggie said, wondering how Noah could have messed this up.

"Not really," she said and sighed. "Okay," she conceded. "I admit I was really into him. And the vampire thing didn't bother me; it was kind of a turn on. But then I started becoming jealous – first the scene with Abby and then later even of his companions. I tried to pull away and it's like I can't! It's like he has this hold on me," she said, confused.

"Well, that's because he does," Maggie answered. "Ziva, a vampire is naturally attractive to the opposite sex. It's part of their make-up. But, in the same way another attractive person can be, he can be resisted. But once you've 'been with' him, there is no way to break the hold. You literally will never be able to resist him," Maggie shook her head sadly. "I'm sorry if he didn't tell you that before he slept with you…" she began.

"No," she interrupted. "I think he did. I just didn't understand what he was saying." Ziva grew silent, withdrawing into her own thoughts.

"You need to talk with him, Ziva," Maggie suggested. "Make sure he understands how you're feeling. If he knows you aren't willing, I promise he won't pursue you. He's far too chivalrous to take someone against her will."

"I suppose you're right," Ziva said. "And it's not that I don't want to be with him. It's just that I don't know how to control these jealous feelings that I'm having."

"Talk to him about them," Maggie insisted. "In his 600+ years of 'life', I'm sure you aren't the only person with which he's had to deal with this issue."

"I'll think about it, Maggie," Ziva said, still unsure. "But I want to be the one to talk to him. Please respect my privacy."

"Of course," Maggie said with a smile. She gave Ziva a quick hug. "Sorry for intruding."

"No," Ziva protested, "you were a big help."

---

"Get your butt in my office, DiNozzo," Director Shepard barked into the phone. "I cut you some slack, but now it's time for you to get your rear in gear. I need you," she said plaintively.

"Okay, okay," he answered quietly. "Give me time to shower and shave, then I'll be in."

"Make it snappy," she added, hanging up the phone.

She smiled to herself. Tony was an incredible agent, and would make a fantastic team leader. Now that Jethro was back and doing well, she had hoped to be able to convince him to take his own team. Now, with experiencing Kate's loss again, she felt it was imperative that he make some changes. He had worked several undercover operations for her successfully. She only hoped she could convince him to get his head back in the game. She knew what it was like to feel responsible for lost love. At least he wouldn't have to work with Kate everyday, imagining what could have been. She shook the thoughts from her head, and prepared to pitch her latest idea to Tony.

---

"So, what's it gonna be," he asked her, leaning into her personal space. His eyes moved up and down her body, his pupils dilating with desire.

"Tony, you don't want this," Maggie said with genuine concern.

"The heck I don't," he countered bitterly. "You have no idea what I want," he said roughly, his eyes giving her no room to doubt his intentions.

"Well, I certainly don't want to hook up with you," Maggie said, taking a step back from him.

"Of course you do," Tony said, taking a step to close the gap she had just put between them. "How could you not?" he said mocking himself. He ran his fingers down her arm suggestively.

"Tony," Maggie said sweetly, "please…"

"Please, what?" he said, leering. "Because I could…"

"Please don't make me hurt you," she interrupted, shaking her head. "Tony, I know you're hurting right now and you think…"

"You don't know anything!" he said before turning away from her and walking down the hallway. Maggie's eyes reflected the sadness and concern she felt for him.

"I thought I was going to have to intervene for a minute there," Gibbs said, joining Maggie from where he had watched the scene.

"I can handle myself," she replied. "I just feel so badly for him."

"Don't," he said. "Grief and hurt – no matter how bad – are never a license to treat a woman the way he was treating you."

She met his eyes, her expression speaking volumes. "I've been treated badly before." She paused before continuing. "I realize Tony doesn't have any excuses, but he does have a lot of pain right now. If he had pressed the issue, he would have regretted doing so."

"I'm sure," Gibbs muttered, uncomfortably. Maggie left him to his thoughts and made her way back to her desk.

---

"Take a seat, DiNozzo," Director Shepard said, motioning to the chair directly across from her desk. They sat in silence for a moment before she continued. "Tony, I'm not even going to pretend to know what you are going through right now. I don't know anything about your relationship with Kate, and even less about the grief you are now experiencing. What I do know is that I need you here, and in top condition. Frankly, I don't care what it takes to get you there." She paused, giving him a hard look. "I want you to tell me what you need."

Tony laughed, his eyes showing his confusion and grief. "What do I need?" he repeated. "Now there's the question of the hour. I don't know. If I knew of something that you could do that would make me 'me' again, I would tell you, Jenny."

"I appreciate your candor, Tony," she smiled at him. "Less than a year ago, when Jethro returned to NCIS, I offered you a team of your own. You declined, mostly because you were concerned over Gibbs' mental health at the time. Now it is obvious that he is back, and in full control of this team." She paused, meeting his eyes. "To be honest, Tony, I have a position that I desperately need you to fill. But you are clearly not in a healthy place right now, and I am hesitant to recommend you."

"Well don't let me put you out, Director," Tony said sarcastically.

"Tony," she interrupted him. "You know how much I respect you, and how much confidence I place in your abilities. Respect me enough to see things from my perspective."

"I'm sorry, Jenny," he said, hanging his head a bit. "I just don't know how I am ever going to get back to where I once was."

"You never will, Tony," she said with a smile. "You'll be a better, stronger Tony because of the things you have experienced. But please don't let this turn you into a bitter, cynical Tony. I would hate to see you lose that easy camaraderie you have with your fellow team members, your good humor, or your flirtatious spirit – those things are part of what make you one of the best people I've ever had the good fortune of working with."

"Thanks, Jenny," he said softly. "I appreciate that."

"Thank me by listening to my advice, and for getting back to work," she said with upraised brows.

"Yes, ma'am," he said as he headed for the door.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

"Oh, come on, you can do better than that," Maggie taunted Ziva, sending her flying across the room.

They had been meeting to work out for the past few weeks. Ziva had been very frustrated at Maggie for holding back. Ziva was very proud of her abilities, and hated knowing that Maggie wasn't giving it her all.

"Remember, I'm not any stronger than you in this form. But I do have better senses, so I can tell when your heart rate or breathing will change, and can anticipate your next move. I also have many years of experience on you. But you are an excellent fighter; very well-trained..."

Maggie's speech was cut off as Ziva caught her with a hard hit to the solar plexus, knocking her down. Maggie gasped, searching for breath. "Okay, I'll shut up now." She rubbed her chest that was already feeling bruised.

"You will heal, yes?" Ziva confirmed. Maggie smiled. Now she was getting the hang of it. Since their conversation, they had been becoming better friends. She still didn't know if Ziva had talked with Noah, but she knew they weren't together.

Maggie sprang to her feet and resumed her fight stance. They circled the mat, ready for action.

"Let's move!" Tony interrupted them. "We have a case. Gibbs is already on his way to the scene." The girls rushed to the edge of the room to grab their things and raced up the stairs without changing. Tony chuckled, thinking this was way too easy.

---

They burst into the bullpen to find Gibbs, McGee and Diamond sitting quietly at their desks, working.

"Something I can do for you ladies?" Gibbs asked; cocking one eyebrow, amusement showing on his face.

"Tony!" they cried foul. The object of their annoyance laughed as he stepped off the elevator.

"What's up?" McGee asked, looking from the faces of the girls to Tony's huge smile.

"Tony just made us run up here like a cat out of hell," Ziva explained.

"Bat out of hell," McGee corrected. Ziva looked confused.

"Why would a bat be in hell?" she asked.

"Why would a cat be in hell?" he countered.

"Have you ever owned a cat, McGee?" Gibbs asked. Ziva laughed.

"Tony told us we had a case and that Gibbs was already gone," she explained.

"In that case, nice hustle ladies," Gibbs said with a smile. "I'm going for coffee," he rose from his seat. "Want one?" he asked.

"None for me," Ziva said with a grimace.

"I have my own," Maggie said, indicating her thermos.

"Is it still hot?" he asked.

"Not really," she admitted.

"So come with?" he asked. She shrugged her shoulders and grabbed her bag.

"Why not?" she replied.

"Anyone else?" Gibbs offered. When no one moved to stand, he moved to the elevator.

---

"So, Ziva, it looked like you were kicking Maggie's tail," Tony commented.

"Not exactly," she responded rolling her eyes, still annoyed with him.

"Come on, it was just a joke," he said laughing. Ziva smiled. Tony had been pulling practical jokes ever since he came back to work after Kate's 'passing'. As much as she hated being the butt of his sense of humor, she was happy to oblige if it helped bring him out of his funk. "Okay, so I'm still not forgiven," he continued.

"You still aren't forgiven for yesterday's prank call," she reminded him sternly. He laughed in remembrance.

"You're too gullible," he accused.

"If there's anything Ziva is not, it's gullible," Noah interjected.

"Thank you," she said to him.

"But you have to admit," Tony continued, still laughing, "that look on your face…" he was laughing so hard, he could barely catch his breath. His laughing proved infectious. Soon McGee began laughing with him, remembering Ziva's expression. Eventually, Ziva gave in and was able to laugh at herself.

"Okay, so I'll give you that one, but this has to stop, Tony," she said, trying to be serious.

Their conversation was interrupted when Tony's phone buzzed.

"DiNozzo," he answered. "On my way," he said, rising from his seat. "The director needs to see me," he explained, making his way up the stairs, still laughing.

---

"Have a seat, Tony," Director Shepard said, a huge smile on her face. "You look good," she said with good humor.

"So do you," he said suggestively, wagging his eyebrows. She laughed.

"It's good to have you back," she said honestly.

"Thanks, Jenny," he said, leaning back into his chair.

"What I have to tell you is a little disappointing," she said. He leaned forward, resting his elbow on his knee, and met her eyes. "The position I needed you for IS no longer. I mean, it literally no longer exists. The SecNav's office did some restructuring, and the position is gone. I'm really sorry Tony, I wanted…"

"Don't worry about it," he interrupted her. He smiled, "I really like working with Gibbs and the rest of the team. I'll be the first to admit that when Gibbs was gone, I enjoyed leading the team," he stated.

"And you did a marvelous job," she added with a smile.

"But I'm perfectly happy working right here," he admitted. He met her eyes, his smile mirroring hers. "Listen, this may be a little out of line, but, um, I was wondering if you wanted to have dinner with me sometime?" he asked, a little uncomfortable.

"Oh Tony," she said, disappointed. "I can't. I think you are a heck of a guy, and under other circumstances I would jump at the chance, but I'm your superior and…"

"Don't worry about it," he blushed, embarrassed. "I thought you might say that; I was just hoping…"

"I'm really flattered," she added sincerely.

"Yeah," he said, still embarrassed. "Well, I'm gonna go… sorry about that." He left her office, significantly less jovial than he entered.

Jenny Shepard rested her head on the desk in front of her. She didn't know what to do. She had seriously been tempted to agree to Tony's proposal of a date. What was she thinking? She wasn't interested in Tony. Was she? Well, it didn't matter anyway. Jethro wasn't the only one who had rules about interoffice dating, based on experiences. She assumed she only felt sorry for Tony's loss and wanted to help him get back to himself.

---

"It's chilly out here," Maggie commented to Gibbs. He gave her a cursory glance.

"You think?" he replied.

It was at that moment she realized she was still wearing her workout clothes. She blushed. She had been so wrapped up in Tony's prank and then in Gibbs' invitation that it hadn't occurred to her that she needed to change. No wonder Noah gave her such a funny look as she left the office. Gibbs smiled at her discomfort. Maybe this wasn't as easy for her as she claimed.

"People are staring," she said under her breath.

"Do you blame them?" he asked, a laugh in his voice. She smiled. He had a point. Suddenly the hilarity of the situation hit her and she began to laugh. He smiled at her, bringing his eyes to meet hers. The good humor immediately evaporated into a kind of uncomfortable tension.

"Look, Jethro, I'm sorry if I made things awkward between us when I first came to NCIS. I find you very attractive. You are the perfect kind of man for me. I'm afraid that I let my feelings get the better of my good judgment. I'm sorry for stretching your personal code of rules to the point that you even considered, for a moment, breaking one for me…"

"For a moment?" he interrupted. "I've been seriously considering breaking certain 'rules' about twenty times a day since that day you propositioned me in the elevator." He smiled and stopped walking.

"What is it?" Maggie asked, looking around.

Gibbs nodded back in the direction they came from, "We passed the coffee shop a few blocks back," he admitted. "I guess I was distracted."

She chuckled. "Me too," she said softly.

"Maggie, I really think we should give this thing a shot," he suggested, clearly uncomfortable.

"Jethro, what about…?" she began.

"Seriously," he interrupted. "I don't want to make myself into a hypocrite, but there are so many interoffice relationships at NCIS right now, I don't think anyone would notice."

"Well," she suggested, "if you wanted to keep it a secret, I know people heard you shut me down a few weeks ago. As far as the rest of the office is concerned, we barely tolerate one another and are just getting back to a decent working relationship."

"What about Abby?" Gibbs asked. Maggie laughed.

"She's just as in the dark as the others, Jethro," she said with a smile. "I didn't tell her about that night…" She saw his face relax in relief.

"So, it'll be our little secret?" he confirmed. She smiled in agreement, and rose up on her tiptoes to kiss him. He met her halfway, kissing her deeply. The kiss was sweet, and a promise of things to come. He gave her a conspiratorial wink before buying her coffee.

---

Back in the bullpen, Maggie gave Tony a glare, and then grabbed her clothes to go change. He laughed.

Secretly, she was glad to see him joking around. She stepped into the locker room next to the gym. She set her coffee on the bench behind her and began removing her clothes. She grabbed her towel and shampoo, took one last drink from her coffee cup, and then stepped into the shower. She showered quickly.

Just as she was rinsing, she heard footsteps enter the locker room. She knew from the sound of the footfalls that the intruder was male, and not someone from her team. She quietly sniffed the air. She didn't know the man, but would forever remember his scent – strong cigarette smoke and body odor attempted to mask the smell that was 'him', but she was very good. She could also detect another smell… chloroform.

She shut off the water, and grabbed her towel so he would not realize she was on to him. She twisted the towel into a makeshift weapon and waited, dropping in to a defensive stance. She heard him move to the edge of the shower stall, his heart beat increasing in anticipation of the attack. She smiled. People were so predictable.

She thought to attempt to contact Noah. She was no telepath, but knew that if he was close enough to her vicinity he could hear her thoughts. She mentally screamed her distress call and crossed her fingers. Just as she was about to make her move against her attacker, she heard the footsteps of another person. She listened intently, but was unable to discern if the owner of the footsteps was male or female. He or she walked very softly, as if military-trained. She couldn't hear anything from the new arrival – not breathing or a heart beat. Vampire. And not Noah, she thought, for he would have made his presence known to her. Dang. She mentally screamed again, as she prepared to defend herself. She put a strong shield up around her mind and prayed this vampire wasn't strong enough to break through. Vampires weren't typically predators, but this one was clearly up to no good.

---

Noah stood up from his desk, "Maggie's in trouble," he said loudly, getting everyone's attention.

"What?" Tony asked, already moving.

"I don't know," he admitted. "She screamed, and now I'm getting nothing. But she is so good at guarding her thoughts, I wouldn't have heard anything she didn't specifically intend for me to hear," he explained as he ran.

Gibbs hadn't waited for the explanation, but had run for the stairway at full speed. The others followed suit. He burst through the door of the locker room to find it vacant. "Cover all the exits!" he shouted. "I'm sure they're still in the building!" He ran through to the other exit leading from the locker room directly to the gym. He crossed the gym and slammed through the doors to the outside just in time to see a white Chevy Suburban pulling from the parking lot. The SUV had Maryland state tags, but he was unable to make out any of the digits. Darnit!

"DiNozzo! Diamond! See if you can find that vehicle!" he ordered as they rushed to the nearest vehicle. "McGee! See what you can find. 1997 Chevy Suburban, white, Maryland tags. Move!" he barked, as McGee rushed back up the stairs. "Ziva, let's see if they left anything behind," he said, helping her search the area.

They found Maggie's coffee and clothing sitting on the bench in the locker room, her towel in the floor of shower stall, and traces of blood on the towel and around the drain. Abby joined them, a bag of gear in her hand. She began photographing the locker room.

"I can't believe someone was in our basement. That takes nerve," she said, taking samples of the blood around the drain and bagging the towel. Gibbs suddenly thought to check to see if Ducky or Jimmy had heard anything, and left the room.

Ziva came back from the parking lot. "I have something," she said.

McGee entered the gym, gear in hand. "I started the system on some searches based on the information we have," he began. "I thought we could use this," he said, as Abby came out of the locker room with her bag full of evidence. "I see you're already on it."

"I need the gear outside," Ziva said, taking the camera from McGee and heading out the door. She photographed the shiny disc she had found in the parking lot, and then bagged it. She had no idea what it was.

---

"No, Jethro, I'm afraid I didn't hear anything," Ducky responded to Gibbs' question. "But I can't find Mr. Palmer. The boy's gone missing again…" he trailed off. "You don't think he was taken with Agent Sullivan?" he questioned.

"No, Duck," Gibbs responded, "I think he's somewhere with Agent Lee."

"Agent Lee? Why would…?" he stopped as the truth smacked him in the face. He chuckled. "I was wondering why she was always finding an excuse to come down here," he said.

"Palmer! Lee!" Gibbs barked loudly, stepping out the door. The two guilty parties stepped out of a hall closet, straightening their clothing.

"Mr. Palmer," Ducky began, "I am appalled that…"

"Later, Duck," Gibbs interrupted. "Agent Sullivan was abducted from the locker room next door. Did either of you see or hear anything at all?" he asked gruffly. Agent Lee shook her head, but Jimmy looked pensive for a moment and then spoke up.

"We're always afraid of being caught, so I usually listen pretty well," he stated. "I heard footsteps a few times, and some numbers on a cell phone being pressed, but no one spoke," he added quickly.

"You heard buttons being pressed," Gibbs asked incredulously.

"Well, they beeped," he said confused. "Like speakerphone was on," he answered.

"Abby's lab," Gibbs ordered the young couple, who immediately moved.

---

"What do you have for me?" Gibbs asked, entering the bullpen.

"I am running through a list of all the vehicles that match the description, cross-checking the names and addresses against a list of possible suspects Noah provided. Nothing yet."

Gibbs' expression said what he didn't bother to. Tim's fingers raced across the keys as he tried yet another seemingly meaningless search. Gibbs walked past him to the elevator. McGee shook his head. There was no pleasing his boss sometimes, but he understood the urgency.

"Hey, Gibbs," Abby said when he walked into the lab, not leaving her keyboard – her eyes locked on her monitor.

"Anything?" he asked impatiently.

"The blood on the towel and around the drain both belong to the same person, but not Maggie," Abby said. "I've been running tests on the blood, but it doesn't appear we have anything matching in our database." She looked at Gibbs. "Ziva found a small, metal disc of unknown origin," she pulled up a 3-D image of the disc onto her monitor. "As you can see, it is metallic, has a graphic on one side and some engraving on the flip side. I tested the metal and discovered it to be an alloy of zinc and protactinium, which is weird because protactinium is highly toxic and radioactive. It is also very rare and expensive. We've already instructed Ziva and anyone else who came into contact with the material be tested for any affects from contact. Fortunately, we were both wearing gloves and seem to be unharmed."

Noticing Gibbs' impatience, she forged ahead. "The engraving doesn't even match any of the languages in my database," she paused, turning to face the others. "I have a friend at the University who specializes in this kind of thing. After taking my samples and photographs, I sent to disc for him to look at, using all precautionary measures, of course. I told him it was of the utmost importance and expect to hear from him soon. He said he would send the results over with one of the students."

Her report was interrupted by the arrival of two young students. Both were tall with brown hair, and looked as if they had raided Abby's wardrobe. One was carrying a packet of information.

"Roisin! Rachel! Perfect timing!" Abby rushed over to the girls, taking the information from Roisin. "I was about to send out a search party," she commented.

"We got here as fast as we could," Roisin responded, her blue eyes twinkling. "We only stopped to grab a bite to eat, chat with some friends, flirt with this really hot guy on the elevator…" she was cut off when her friend punched her in the arm.

"We did not!" Rachel interrupted her friend.

"Oww! Rach!" Roisin winced and rubbed her arm.

"Abs…" Gibbs interrupted, reminding her of what she should be focusing on.

"Sorry, boss!" she said, tearing into the information that had been brought to her. "Thanks so much for rushing this to me, girls," Abby said with a backward glance. "This looks like exactly what I needed."

"Score!" Rachel said, as the girls left the lab.

Abby perused the materials, looking for something to report to Gibbs. "This says the engraving is an ancient logophonetic text similar to Elamite. It should be read right to left, but even with the key doesn't make a lot of sense. It says 'Sleep Holy Honest Forever' or something like that."

She turned to look at Gibbs. "Don't worry, Gibbs," she said. "We'll figure it out in time," she promised.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

"Whaddya' got, McGee?" Gibbs asked, his nerves starting to get to him.

"Tony called and said they got a partial plate, but lost the vehicle," McGee began.

"Darn it!" Gibbs slammed his palm into his desk.

"But the partial plate did match a vehicle that was reported stolen about an hour ago," McGee continued.

"Can't just one criminal use his own vehicle?" Ziva asked.

"Would you?" Gibbs countered. "Where are DiNozzo and Diamond now?" he asked.

"Right here, boss," Tony said, stepping off the elevator.

"You lost him?" Gibbs said condescendingly.

"We tried," Noah defended. "Trust me; I know what's at stake."

Gibbs wanted to take him by the shirt and throw him against the wall. But he didn't. "Let's all go downstairs to Abby's lab and go over this together," he ordered, out of ideas. He picked up the phone to instruct Ducky to meet them there.

---

"I'm sorry, they're just too much alike," Jimmy said, shaking his head in frustration. He swung his head around to face the door as Gibbs and the rest of the team walked into the lab. "Abby has had me trying to identify what kind of phone or electronic device I heard, but they are all too much alike. All I know is that there was a lot of beeping, so it was probably a text message."

"Why would a text message be on speakerphone?" Gibbs asked, confused. He looked at McGee for a technical explanation.

"It wouldn't be, boss," McGee confirmed.

"So what did you hear?" Gibbs turned to face Palmer. Jimmy's face went white, seeing the determination on Gibbs' face.

"I don't know, sir," he said, his voice quivering.

"Don't worry about it," Gibbs said, cutting him some slack. The rest of the team turned to stare. "What else do we have?!" he barked. The team smiled. That was more like it.

"Well, I've continued to research…" Abby began.

"Oh dear God in Heaven," Noah interrupted, entranced by the 3-D image of the disc on Abby's monitor. "Where was this found?" he asked, he face reflecting the seriousness of the situation.

"On the ground in the parking lot when the men left with Agent Sullivan," Ziva quickly replied.

"Did you touch it?" he asked, concerned.

"Yes, but I was wearing gloves," Ziva responded. "And I've taken the radiation treatment medications. I'm fine, Noah," she continued when he still looked very concerned.

"Diamond, what are we dealing with here?" Gibbs interrupted with trepidation.

"I haven't seen one of these medallions since my youth. And even then, it was a history lesson," Noah caught Gibbs' impatient expression and hurried on. "The medallion is the symbol of an ancient group of vampires called the Alchemists' Guild. The Guild was focused on perfecting the human race, seeing vampirism as the answer to what mankind should be. They were obsessed with the idea of making all humankind into vampires. The elite of the group were rumored to be obsessed with making the perfect immortal. It was through their extreme experimentations that we developed our strong code against making werewolves into vampires." He paused for a moment, his mind reaching about a ten different conclusions at the same time. "Of course, it makes so much sense," he said quietly, before continuing. "I should have suspected…" his voice trailed off in self-derision.

"Diamond," Gibbs interrupted his musings. "Would you mind sharing with the rest of us?"

"It appears our conflict from last month was about more than just Lenny and Rupert," he said ominously. "I knew taking him down seemed too easy, but I had no reason to suspect there was any other involvement. If a group of vampires has resurrected the Alchemists' Guild, then Lenny was their first attempt at the perfect immortal. Clearly, it failed, probably due to Lenny's madness. I'm certain Maggie is the center of their next experiment."

"But they can't make her without her consent," Abby said, confused.

"That is correct," Noah confirmed.

"Is it possible a vampire could manipulate her mind to force her to consent?" Gibbs said, angry.

"No," Noah denied vehemently. "The process of making someone a vampire is extremely intensive. It is all about mental concentration and acquiescence. In order for someone to force her to consent, he or she would have to have complete control of Maggie's mind for over two years. It would be nearly impossible for a vampire to do that to anyone, especially someone as strong mentally as Maggie."

"At least if they have plans for her they probably won't hurt her," McGee offered. Gibbs gave him a stone cold look.

"Pardon me if we don't take your word for it," Gibbs said.

"Is it possible that an extremely old, extremely powerful vampire that maybe was already affiliated with the Alchemists' Guild would have a way to making someone a vampire that the rest of you wouldn't know?" Abby proposed. "Sorry," she apologized at the shocked glances she received. "I'm just saying…"

"Answer the question, Diamond," Gibbs ordered.

"My instinct is to insist there is no way," Noah began. "But I'm sure there are secrets among the old that we may never know."

"I thought you were some high and mighty, powerful, 'big bad'," DiNozzo questioned, taking his frustration out on Noah.

"Here in the New World, that's true," Noah explained. In other nations, most masters that live publicly are roughly the same age or degree of power as I am. But extremely old and powerful vampires do exist. They live underground and rarely surface.'

"So we're talking about…" Abby began.

"I only hope we're not right," Noah said. "A better alternative would be that a newer vampire has become obsessed with the work of the Alchemists' Guild and is trying to make us believe he is more powerful than he is," Noah suggested. "If an extremely powerful vampire came to the United States I would have felt him. Of course, an ancient one could have enlisted the assistance of a young, eager vampire," he hypothesized.

"Either way," Gibbs interrupted, "we need to find Agent Sullivan quickly. Diamond, keep working with Abby on this Alchemists' Guild theory. See if you can get any leads. McGee, assist. Palmer, keep trying to figure out what the heck it is that you heard. The rest of you get upstairs and follow leads on the Suburban. Research as if it were any other missing person case. Leave no stone unturned. Let's move, people!" he barked.

---

"My office," Director Shepard said as she passed Gibbs' desk. He rose and followed her up the stairs. "Have a seat," she said.

"I'll stand, if you don't mind," he said caustically. "I have work to do." He paced the floor in front of her desk like a caged lion.

"Jethro, I know what you're feeling right now," she said with compassion. "One of our own is in jeopardy, again, and you feel responsible. I also know you don't always get along well with Agent Sullivan and you are probably feeling guilty…"

"Jenny, I don't have time to be psychoanalyzed right now," he interrupted rudely, turned and left out the door as quickly as he had come in.

"Well, that went well," she said to herself with a smile.

---

As soon as he reached his desk his phone buzzed. "What now?" he barked.

"I was only asking you to keep me in the loop, Jethro. I am as worried about Agent Sullivan as you are," she said.

"Consider it done," he said disconnecting.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

"Okay, so what does 'Sleep, Holy, Honest, Forever' mean?" Abby continued grilling Noah for information.

"Actually, this is a very ancient language. Words have slightly different meanings than what your modern research might tell you. A better translation would be 'Paradise, Perfect, Pure, Perpetual', referring to what was then revered as the religion of vampirism. In actuality, vampirism is not a religion or even a school of thought; it is a physical alteration that can happen to people from all walks of life – regardless of theology or philosophy," he explained.

"Okay," Abby replied. "That helps. What about the actual medallion?"

"At the time these medallions were first created, people didn't know what 'radioactive' meant. All the elite knew was that the 'power' of the medallion would harm those they considered inferior."

"Isn't a werewolf affected by radiation poisoning as easily as a human?" McGee questioned.

"Not really," Noah explained. "It is impossible to kill a werewolf using poison or any other slow-acting agent because of the rate at which a werewolf heals."

"That makes sense," Abby agreed, remembering her own research and training. "So which theory do you think is most likely?" she asked.

"I don't like any of them," he said, frustrated.

---

"We got a lead, boss," DiNozzo rose from his chair. "The Suburban was spotted heading East on Highway 9 about ten minutes ago," he added.

"Ziva, you're with us… Let's move!" Gibbs shouted, grabbing his coffee as he rushed to the elevator.

---

They took separate vehicles. Tony stopped to speak to the convenient store owner who reported seeing the vehicle; Gibbs and Ziva drove in the direction the SUV had last been seen.

---

"He stopped in for cigarettes," the store owner, Bob, explained, after giving Tony the physical description of the man driving the vehicle. "I recognized the truck. I always keep my police scanner on, you know," he continued.

"Did he purchase anything besides cigarettes?" DiNozzo questioned.

"Just the Winstons," Bob confirmed. "I kept his money out in case you wanted to get some prints off it; he wasn't wearing gloves or nothing," he continued. Tony smiled. A Colombo wannabe. "I even bagged it for you. There's a few crumbs in that bag, but it outta be alright."

"Thank you, Bob," Tony said. "You've been a big help."

"Oh, that ain't all," Bob continued. "He also touched this here counter," he said animatedly. "I imagine his'd be the only set of prints on both the money and the counter. Besides mine, of course," he hurriedly amended.

"Of course," Tony repeated. "You wouldn't happen to have surveillance video of the interior or exterior of the store?"

Bob's face fell. "We used to," he admitted. "Now the cameras are there, but they don't work no more."

"I appreciate your willingness to assist in the investigation, Bob," Tony said with a smile.

"Oh, I'm happy to help," he continued. "I watch CSI all the time."

"I'm sure you do," Tony quipped.

"You gonna get these prints off the counter?" Bob asked, as Tony was moving toward the door.

"Actually, Bob, I was going to ask you to close early so we can fully examine the scene. We may need you come down for more questioning."

Bob's face broke into a huge grin. "Happy to oblige," he said. "I can't wait to tell the family about this!"

---

"Gibbs" he answered his ringing phone, frustrated that he and Ziva had been unable to pick up a trail.

"Hey, boss," Tony said. He filled him in on the situation at the convenience store. "A team is on their way to examine the scene."

"No need," Gibbs responded curtly. "Take the prints yourself, take a few photos, and bring the owner in for additional questioning. Send him to the sketch artist for a rendering."

"On it," Tony said quickly disconnecting.

---

Noah entered the empty office, and then closed and secured the door. He knew he had to make contact with others for information. The master who made him had been executed centuries before, but his master's master still lived on. He remained in hiding, like most of the ancient ones, but still held much power without surfacing. Noah closed his eyes, his mind completely focused on otherworldly things. Within moments, he had the telepathic audience he desired.

'Master, it appears a group of our kind has become interested in the work of the Alchemists' Guild,' Noah informed him. 'They have abducted a werewolf friend of mine, and are trying to make her by force.'

'That is impossible, even for an ancient one,' the older vampire confirmed. 'What has led you to believe this is the group responsible?'

'They left an AG medallion at the scene of the abduction,' Noah responded. 'And they made a werewolf before, but he was mad and easily defeated. I believe I have a usurper in my ranks.'

'Noah, I will seek answers among the other ancient ones. Some of those still living were active when the Guild was in its prime. I suspect the culprits are new, eager vampires who have heard too many stories, but it would benefit no one to approach this situation without exploring every angle," the older vampire continued.

'Thank you,' Noah continued. 'I will continue to investigate my people as well.'

'Keep me apprised,' the older vampire said as they broke their mental connection.

---

Back in the bullpen, things were finally coming together. Abby had been able to ascertain the identity of the driver using the evidence collected at Bob's Quik Stop. The man's picture showed a strong likeness to the sketch rendered from Bob's description. The man's name was Wesley Caper. His wrap sheet showed a series of petty crimes, but nothing serious. He was unknown to the NPID, which led them to believe he had only just been recruited for this mission. A careful review of Mr. Caper's financial records revealed several deposits into an offshore account in his name over the course of the past ten months. McGee was working frantically to uncover the source of the funds.

"Gibbs," he answered his phone with a heavy sigh.

"_Agent Gibbs, this is Morgan Sullivan,"_ the caller said in a frantic voice. _"I've been trying to reach Maggie and it's a matter of utmost importance."_

"Morgan," Gibbs answered, unsure of himself for the first time in a long while. "What seems to be the problem?" he put off giving too much information.

"_My youngest daughter, Shannon, has been taken,"_ Morgan's voice showed his nervousness and concern. _"My Annie is just beside herself with worry. We don't know how it happened…"_

"When?" Gibbs barked the question, standing from his seat.

"_She wasn't in her room this morning when we went to check on her. At first we weren't concerned because she's an early riser and likes to walk along the shore. But after much searching, we cannot find her anywhere. I don't want to alarm Maggie, but I thought…"_

"Morgan, we will do our best to find your daughter. Maggie has been taken too. We are following some leads, and the information we have could help lead us to your daughter as well," Gibbs explained, hoping the man would allow them to investigate, but somehow knowing they were about to have some more Irish visitors. He knew no one could keep him away if it was his daughter in danger.

---

"Either they are hoping young Shannon will be easier to manipulate, or they are planning to use her to force Maggie into agreement," Noah stated the obvious.

"Either way, I don't like it," Gibbs muttered. "McGee! Money trail?" he questioned impatiently.

"I've traced the deposits back to a company by the name of Calliope Enterprises, but I haven't been able to find any information on the entity at all. Someone has taken extreme measures to secure the company's information," McGee reported.

"Calliope Enterprises…" Tony brainstormed. "We came across that name when we were investigating Lenny, Boss."

"And…?" Gibbs asked.

"And I don't remember, but I'm looking," Tony said, his fingers racing across the keys of his keyboard.

"Calliope Enterprises: a new force for tomorrow," Ziva recited, having beaten Tony to the report. Tony stuck his tongue out at her. She smiled. "The owner is…"

"Estelle," Noah interrupted, his mind unable to comprehend the latest turn of events. "Darn it! I should have known!" He immediately began reviewing her role in Lenny's capture. There were times when things that should have been easy were difficult. But it had been so easy in the end – because she had given him up to protect herself. In all that time, he hadn't suspected her.


	24. Chapter 24

A/N – it was brought to my attention that somehow Chapter 8 was uploaded incorrectly, and was actually a repeat of Chapter 5. I have since uploaded 'the real' Chapter 8. Sorry for any inconvenience or confusion!!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 24

The ringing phone startled Gibbs from an already restless sleep. '0400,' he thought, 'what the…'

"Yeah," he answered, already rising from the bed and dressing.

"Gibbs, it's Abby!" she said excitedly. "I have finally been able to make contact with Maggie and I have some information. I'm on my way to NCIS."

"You made contact with Maggie?" he questioned incredulously.

"Yeah, finally," Abby said. "I figured they were probably keeping her drugged before and that was why it took me so long. You know, I…"

"Abs," Gibbs interrupted, "how did you contact Maggie?"

"In her dream, Gibbs!" she said exasperated.

"On my way, Abs."

Gibbs called the rest of the team and they all rushed to the NCIS offices.

---

"All I can say is Maggie is incredible," Abby reported to the group. "Just in case you didn't know that already," she added quickly. All eyes were on her, awaiting her explanation. "As you know I can communicate through dreams. Shortly after meeting me, Maggie opened herself up to me so she is one of the few people with which I can openly communicate. At least from here. Tim, Maggie and Noah. Anyhow," she continued, "I've been trying to reach her since she was taken, but I haven't been able to get through. Apparently they had kept her drugged to the point that her sleep was completely dreamless. But, I was finally able to reach her tonight."

"Don't keep us in suspense, Abby, get on with it," Tony said, catching the look in Gibbs' eye.

"She confirmed that Estelle is behind everything: the Lenny debacle, as well as both her and Shannon's abductions. She also confirmed that Wesley Caper is the man she's been working with. He doesn't even know that she's a vampire. She was able to give me detailed information about their plans, as well as her location. It seems Estelle has underestimated her ability to overhear things and to sniff out her surroundings. She had already developed an escape plan when they brought Shannon in. Now she is working to keep her safe and get them both out. She said that Wesley is the only one there at nights, and if she could get to Shannon she could easily overtake him, even drugged."

"Let's move!" Gibbs shouted, already heading out.

"Boss, I know where Estelle's lair is. I need to take a team of my people to eliminate her while your team secures Maggie and Shannon," Noah suggested.

Gibbs hesitated. He knew this was the best course of action, but he desperately wanted to be there to see Estelle taken down.

"Sounds good, let's go people!" he agreed.

---

Noah led his team directly to Estelle's lair. He approached the vampire and took her under his control. Her underlings whimpered, unable to stand against Noah's authority. As the maker of their maker, they had no resistance against him. Armed with the fury of righteous indignation, the full support his ancient master and a fierce determination to save Maggie and Shannon, his power and authority commanded the room.

"Estelle," he began in a forceful tone. "You have dared to risk all that our kind has struggled for centuries to protect. You have endangered our entire way of life. You have chosen to disregard the lessons learned by our ancients and to resurrect a study that could easily destroy us. For this, there is but one recourse," he paused, his eyes flashing.

She sneered, but due to his hold over her she was powerless to resist him. "It was Lenny's idea," she began. "Stupid wolf! He came to me. He had discovered the information about the Alchemists' Guild. He was the one who planned everything," she said.

"You're lying, Estelle! Lenny didn't have the intelligence to pull this off, and you have continued in spite of his death," Noah rebutted. "That you would stand here, knowing I possess the truth about you, and still defy me is proof in itself of your insubordination."

Her execution was swift, leaving no opportunity for defense. Noah addressed the other vampires in the room. "Your master is gone. I was her master and now am yours. You will pledge loyalty to me, now, or die with your master."

---

Agent DiNozzo and Officer David moved silently around to the back of the house, while Agents Gibbs and McGee searched the side. All were looking for an alternate way to enter the house, knowing that precautions would have been taken on both the front and back doors. Finding no other way, they prepared to forcibly enter the house. Tony nodded to Ziva as he kicked in the front door.

"Federal Agents!" he shouted, hearing Gibbs and McGee entering through the rear. Wesley Caper was sound asleep in the recliner in the living room, in a pile of empty beer cans. The sound of the house being invaded was enough to rouse him from his alcohol-induced slumber. Barely.

"What's going on?" he asked, his eyes taking in the scene.

"Here!" Gibbs shouted from the back of the house. Ziva nodded to Tony. She kept her gun trained on Caper while Tony went to join Gibbs. He walked into a large bedroom to find Gibbs pulling Maggie into his arms. She was lifeless, like a rag doll.

"Is she…?" Tony asked quietly.

"Of course not, Tony," he answered frustrated. "She's just been sedated."

"How much sedative does it take to knock out a full-grown werewolf?" Tony asked.

"I don't even want to think about it, Tony," Gibbs said quietly. They carried Maggie into the hall where McGee met them. He was carrying a small child with long red hair. She appeared to be sleeping peacefully, but they knew better.

Ziva placed Caper in handcuffs and prepared him for transport.

---

0700 found them all back in the NCIS offices. Maggie and Shannon were sleeping off the rest of the effects of the drugs downstairs where Ducky was watching over them. Gibbs was questioning Caper. Director Shepard was questioning Abby and Noah. McGee and Ziva were working on the final case report. The elevator doors opened to a worried-looking Morgan and his friend Jaime.

"Do you have any news?" he asked McGee, recognizing him as part of his sister's team.

"Yes, we found Shannon and Maggie a few hours ago. They have been sedated, but are sleeping…"

He cut off when he realized they had stepped back onto the elevator. He smiled. Some personality traits run in the family.


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

"How are they, Duck?" Gibbs asked as he walked in to check on Maggie. He was carrying a bag full of muffins and other breakfast items, as well as coffee.

"Young Shannon is still sleeping soundly, but her vitals are fine. She should have no lasting effects from the drugs; at least not physical," he began.

"And Maggie?" Gibbs asked, not wanting to sound too eager.

"She's splendid, Jethro," Dr. Mallard responded with a smile. "She awoke about forty minutes ago, and is in very good spirits. Her brother Morgan and Jaime are with her."

Gibbs looked into the room where Maggie and Shannon had been recovering, and laughed at the sight that greeted him. Maggie was sitting up in bed, a tray in her lap. On the tray was a plate with two large steaks, a huge salad and a bottle of Irish whiskey. Morgan and Jaime were sitting next to her bed, telling her stories and making her laugh.

"I brought breakfast," he said with a smile.

"Thank God, I'm starving!" Maggie said meeting his eyes, her smile matching his.

"You okay?" he asked.

"I'm okay," she confirmed with a smile, taking two muffins and a cup of coffee from him. "Thanks," she said. He gave a sideways smile at the amount of food on her plate.

"How's Shannon?" he asked Morgan.

"She seems fine. I'm hoping she will wake up soon," the worried father replied.

"Me too," Gibbs agreed, nodding his head.

"Let's take a walk, Morgan," Jaime said. "I'm sure Maggie needs to fill him in on a few things."

---

"Shhhh…" Maggie said, nodding toward the hall into which Morgan and Jaime had just exited. She signed "they can still hear us". Gibbs nodded in understanding.

Gibbs sat in the chair closest to the bed, and moved it so that he was sitting as near as possible without actually sitting on the bed. He smiled as he watched her alternate between staring at him and eating.

"I'm not going anywhere," he said softly. "Eat."

She blushed, making him chuckle. She quickly finished her food, not leaving a crumb behind. He could hardly believe that someone as tiny as she was could possibly have eaten all that food. But then, there was a lot he didn't know about her. He was determined to change that.

"Just a heads up," Maggie noted, "Caper will probably disappear from custody soon, never to be seen again."

"I don't have a problem with that," he smirked. She smiled back, moving the tray from her lap.

"Thanks for thinking of breakfast," she said.

"Apparently I wasn't the only one," he quipped. She laughed.

"No, the boys had my back as well," she added.

"Whiskey for breakfast?" Gibbs questioned. She giggled.

"Yeah, I guess that could seem strange," Maggie answered. "Morgan brought it with him to celebrate our return and didn't see any reason to wait for a later hour. Want some?"

Gibbs shook his head, knowing he was both at the NCIS offices and on the clock, but then thought better of it. "Why not?" he said, taking a large swallow. "Good stuff," he said, when he could breathe again.

"Of course," Maggie said, feigning offense. "It's Irish."

"I just have to say, I'm getting really tired of you being in danger all the time," Gibbs said gruffly.

"It's what I do, boss," she replied, one eyebrow cocked. "Same as you."

"Touché," he responded with a grin. "About what we discussed before…"

"Yes?" she asked hesitantly, wondering if he had changed his mind.

"I was thinking we should get together this weekend. We aren't on call; another team is working the hotline this weekend."

"Sounds good to me," Maggie agreed. "What's on the agenda?"

He gave her a very heated look, "You want an agenda?" She blushed, making him chuckle.

"I guess not," she answered, meeting his gaze. He passed her a key.

"Here's the key to my house. Lock it behind you. Some people have a habit of just walking in when I leave it unlocked," he said, his eyes making promises she couldn't wait for him to keep.

She looked toward the doorway. "Someone's coming," she whispered. He moved his chair slightly away from her and altered his stance to a more professional one. He gave her a wink.

"I'm glad you're feeling better, Agent Sullivan," he said just as Abby and McGee walked into the room.

---

Abby was carrying a sack full of food. "Have you eaten?" she asked. Gibbs laughed. Maggie reached for the bag, and took out a banana and a cheese Danish.

"Thanks," she said with a big smile. "I've eaten, but could still use more."

"How's Shannon?" McGee asked, walking over to look at the sleeping child. He could still remember how it felt to carry her out of that house. She looked so fragile. She couldn't be seven years old.

"Oh, she's resilient," Maggie said with a smile. "She'll be up and driving us crazy in no time, I'm sure."

About that time, the subject of their conversation shifted in her sleep and sighed, her mouth relaxing into a smile. Everyone watched as she opened her eyes and sat up in bed.

"I can actually hear you staring at me," she complained.

"Top of the morning, sweet Shannon," Maggie said with all of the love she felt in her voice.

"You sound like my mum, Aunt Maggie," the young girl responded with a smile.

"Hungry?" McGee asked, offering her the remainder of the food from both the bag Gibbs brought and the bag he and Abby brought.

"Am I ever!" Shannon said, grabbing the bags from his hand. She smiled. "Thanks for the save, by the way," she said almost shyly.

"You're welcome," he said returning her smile. "You talk awfully big for your age."

"What can I say? I'm a prodigy," she responded with a heavy sigh.

"And you're very naughty," Morgan said as he and Jaime entered the room.

"Daddy!" she said with delight. He quickly made his way across the room and gathered his daughter into his arms. He squeezed her tightly.

"I love you, Princess," he said softly.

"I love you, too," she said contentedly. "Can we go home now?" she asked. "Not that I'm not happy to meet my rescuers," she said as a side note.

"Yes, baby," Morgan answered. "Your mom is quite anxious to see you," he said happily.

Gibbs smiled at the scene between the father and daughter, he mind flooded with memories of Kelly and his Shannon. Maggie noticed the sheen of unshed tears in his eyes as he made his way to the door, slipping out almost unnoticed. Of course, she noticed everything about him. She would have to wait until that evening to find out what was on his mind.

---

"Can we talk?" Noah said quietly, when he and Ziva were finally alone. She breathed a long sigh and then turned to meet his eyes.

"I suppose," she said, rising from her seat. "Wanna grab a bite?"

"More than you know," he said seductively, making her laugh.

"That's not what I meant," she said, shaking her head.

"I know," he answered quietly. "Let's go," he said, placing a hand on her lower back, guiding her to the elevator. She smiled at him. How would she ever learn to resist him?


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

"Can I talk to you privately for a moment before I have to go?" Shannon asked McGee with a hint of blush in her cheeks.

"Sure," he said curiously, allowing her to lead him far around the corner. She stopped to listen, and then pulled him further down the hall, and into the stairwell. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"I just wanted to thank you again for saving me," she said shyly.

"Well, you're welcome," he said. "But it wasn't just me," he explained. "Abby, our forensic tech, was able to communicate with your Aunt Maggie, who gave us lots of information on how to find you. Then Tony, Ziva, Gibbs and I all came there to save you. I was just the person lucky enough to get to carry you to safety," he said, giving her a wink. She rose up on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek.

"You're still my hero," she said with a smile. She then grabbed his head in her hands and pulled him toward her, giving him a full kiss on the mouth. Shannon laughed as he pulled away in shock.

"Um... uh..." he sputtered.

"Thanks, Tim," she said with a wink, as she disappeared back through the stair door.

---

Tim walked down the stairs towards Abby's lab, still not sure what to make of what just happened.

"Tim!" Abby said, walking over to give him a hug and kiss. She noticed his mood and stopped. "What's up?"

"Little Shannon just kissed me," he said. "One second she was thanking me for saving her, and the next she was trying to slip me the tongue," he continued, clearly disturbed.

Abby laughed out loud. She brushed a stray lock of hair out of his eyes. "When I was her age, I would probably have done the same thing," she admitted.

"You would have kissed a grown man like THAT when you were just a kid?" he said, taken aback.

She looked at him curiously. "How old you think she is, honey?" she asked.

"I don't know; at first I thought six or seven. Then it was obvious I had underestimated. Maybe… eight… nine…?"

Abby laughed harder. "Older," she hinted.

"Well, she does talk older than her age. I suppose she could be really petite… twelve?" he asked, having difficulty imagining that.

"Older," Abby said, laughing even harder. "Timmy! She's a werewolf! How old does Maggie look? She's almost 114."

"Aahhhhh… he said," blushing. "How old is she?" he asked Abby.

"She's almost seventeen, Tim," she responded.

"You're kidding me!" he objected.

"Nope," she said, laughing again. "I would have paid money to see that."

"But you aren't going to tell anyone, right?" he asked, teasingly threatening her with his look.

"I don't know… silence could cost you…" she teased back.

"What would it cost me?" he asked, meeting her wicked look with one of his own. She leaned forward and started whispering in his ear. He shifted uncomfortably, but was unable to keep the smile off his face.

"Ah… something not appropriate for this time and place," he answered with a sexy look. "You can get back to me."

"Party pooper!" Abby called out after him as he exited the lab.

---

"I'm heading out," Gibbs said, grabbing his things. "Have a nice weekend everyone," he said, rushing toward the elevator.

"Well, he's in a good mood," Ziva commented.

"Hot date?" Tony speculated.

"I don't know…" Ziva pondered. "Who ever knows with him?"

"What's it matter?" Noah said, wondering why everyone was so concerned.

"I'm curious," Tony said. "He is such a bastard all the time, but always gets the hot women."

"He can't be a jerk all the time, Tony," Director Shepard walked up behind him. "He did get four different women to marry him."

"True," Ziva said.

"I don't know about you losers," Tony said, "but I have plans. How about we blow this popstand?"

"Beg your pardon?" Ziva asked.

"Let's get out of here," McGee explained, rolling his eyes at Tony. Ziva laughed.

"Wanna grab a drink?" Ziva asked the group, collectively.

"Like I just said; Plans…" Tony said, ducking into the elevator.

"Abby and I were…" McGee trailed off not sure how to finish that sentence unobtrusively. "We're busy," he corrected.

"Ziva, I'm sorry," Maggie said, gathering her things. "I have some things to catch up on, having been out of it all day."

"Don't worry about it," Ziva assured her. "I'm surprised they let you come up to your desk this afternoon anyway. I figured they would handcuff you to the bed and make you rest."

"Not exactly," Maggie said with a grin.

"I'm free," Noah said, catching Ziva's eye. They had a wonderful conversation that morning. Well, wonderful in that she actually talked to him. She told him in no uncertain terms that things could not move forward with them and that she would appreciate it if he would stop coming on to her since he knew she was powerless to resist him. She asked him to respect her wishes and back off. "But if you think that would be uncomfortable…"

"I don't know…" Ziva began, and looked at Jenny. "Wanna join us, Director?"

"Sure," she said, unsure of why Ziva didn't want to be alone with Noah, but picking up on her desperation for more company. "That would be fun." Ziva picked up her phone and invited Ducky to join them.

"Okay, let's go. Ducky will meet us outside," she said as they made their way out of the building.

---

Maggie went home in a daze, her mind unable to think about anything other than her upcoming 'date'. As she opened the door, she was attacked by her niece. "Aunt Maggie, you have to tell me everything you can about Timothy McGee!" she said excitedly. "Does he have a girlfriend?"

"Yes," Maggie said slowly. "And he's not a pedophile," she added.

"I'm sixteen years old!" she protested.

"Which is too young to be in a relationship with an adult male," Maggie explained. "Not to mention, you have the body of an eleven year old."

Shannon gasped. "I do not! I think I look at least thirteen now."

"My point exactly," Maggie said with a smile.

"I guess you're right," she said with a sigh. "But he's a total hottie, in a geeky kind of way. I like that."

Maggie smiled, "I'm sure you do." She ran her fingers through her niece's hair. "Don't rush growing up, sweetie. You are going to have MANY years of adulthood. Enjoy your childhood while you have it," she said, leaning down to kiss Shannon on the cheek.

"I guess," Shannon sighed.

---

"What's going on in here?" Morgan said, acting as if he hadn't actually heard the conversation from the other side of the house.

"Like you don't know!" Shannon said, rolling her eyes.

"Get your stuff, lassie, we have a plane to catch!" he said, smacking her on the rear end.

"Thanks for coming, Morgan," Maggie said after Shannon had run upstairs to collect her things. "And thank Jaime, too."

"He said he was sorry for flying on back early, but he had some things to take care of," Morgan said. "Truth be known, he was acting very strangely."

"Give him a big hug for me," Maggie said, "and this one's for you." She grabbed him and squeezed him tightly. "I love you," she said.

"I love you too, sis," he replied, planting a kiss on the top of her head.

"What time does the plane leave?" she asked.

"Eight," he answered. "I figure we'll leave right after dinner."

"Oh, about dinner," Maggie began, "I didn't really know you would be here and so I have plans."

"A date?" Morgan teased. "I thought you said there wasn't anyone special. Oh wait! There was a guy that you said didn't want you. Same guy?" he asked with a smirk.

"The same," she confirmed, moving past him to her bedroom. She started placing items in her overnight bag.

"So does he have a name?" he grilled.

"Of course," Maggie said chuckling. "Doesn't everyone?"

"Are you going to tell me?" he asked persistently.

"Nope," she replied.

"Wait up, are you packing for an overnight stay?" he said protectively. Maggie wagged her eyebrows at her brother.

"Let's just say I've been looking forward to this for a long time," she said in a sultry voice.

"I don't know if this is a good idea, Mags," Morgan said, trying to move her bag out of her reach.

"I beg your pardon!" she objected. "I am a grown woman. This is my house, my life and my decision."

"I'm sorry, you're right," he said, pretending to give in. He surreptitiously reached over and grabbed her silk nightgown out of her bag and tucked it behind his back.

"I thought you would rather I have that, than not," she argued with a smirk.

He sighed. "You're right."

"I know," Maggie said with a superior look.

---

"So, what's his name?" Shannon said, joining them in Maggie's room.

"I wouldn't tell your father, and I won't tell you," Maggie answered with determination. "Now, give me a hug and get out of my room so I can change clothes," she said and leaned down to give her niece a huge bear hug. "I love you, sweet Shannon," she said in her ear.

"I love you too, Aunt Maggie," she answered.

---

Maggie couldn't remember the last time she showered as quickly as she did. She quickly applied moisturizer, a small amount of make-up, blow-dried and styled her hair and dressed. A mere thirty minutes later, she came out of the bedroom carrying her overnight bag.

"Now I definitely don't think it's a good idea," Morgan said, eyeing his sister's outfit. She was wearing black silk pants that looked like second skin, 4-inch black heels and an amazing red blouse that he couldn't quite figure out. It looked more like a wrap or a set of scarves. It was cut low in the front, showing more than a hint of cleavage. It was cut so low in the back that you could see the hip band of her low-cut pants.

"Fortunately, I don't need your approval," she smirked as she walked out the door. "Don't forget to lock up when you leave," she said after she got outside. She knew he would still hear her.

"Wow, she is hot!" she overheard her niece say as she got into her car. She laughed. This was going to be a great weekend.


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

Maggie parked her car in a secure lot, grabbed her bag and began walking the ten blocks to Gibbs' place. She smiled thinking of what tonight would mean. Her mind kept flipping from images of his rakish smile, to his authoritative way of leading, to the sight of his backside, to the look on his face when he told her he wanted to try to work things out. She was so preoccupied with her thoughts that she almost didn't hear the thugs approaching her. Almost.

"Oh, ho, ho, what do we have here?" the taller one said, eyeing Maggie from top to bottom. He licked his lips. "Primo bitch," he said to his friend, who laughed.

"You have no idea," Maggie said. "Listen boys; I'm not interested. This is the only warning you will get from me. If you try to come near me you will regret it. Not someday. Right here, right now. That's a promise," she said sternly.

"Oh, baby, that sounds good to me," the stocky man said, leering at her. "Right here, right now." He and his buddy exchanged glances and began to advance on Maggie. In a move so fast they didn't even see it; she drew her Kimber 1911 from the holster on in inside front of her pants and aimed it at them.

"I'm a federal agent," she informed them. "If you attack me in any way, I have the authority to arrest you. If you resist, I can and will shoot you. Now, what was that you wanted? Because I haven't gotten to shoot anyone in over a week; I'm due," she said seriously.

The men immediately turned and ran down the alley at full speed.

Maggie laughed.

"That was impressive," a sexy voice interrupted her laugh. One she recognized very well.

"Hey, Jethro," she said quietly. "How'd you find me?"

"Trade secret," he said. He moved to her side, took her bag from her, tucked her in to his side, placed his hand on her bare back and began walking her toward his place. He continued, "I could tell you, but what fun would that be?"

"It was very chivalrous, thank you," she said with a smile.

"I could have just picked you up," he said.

"I can take care of myself," she reminded him with a smile in her voice.

"Clearly," he agreed.

They walked in silence. He was making small circles on the bare skin of her back with his fingertips. She shivered. He pulled her in closer to him.

"Cold?" he asked.

"No," she answered, her voice quivering a little bit. He smiled.

"Almost there," he said in a low voice.

"Good," she answered.

"By the way, you look incredible," he said over the lump in his throat.

She smiled. "I know," she said.

His throaty laugh was lower than normal and sent chills of anticipation down her spine.

---

"It appears Ms. David is otherwise occupied." Ducky's voice broke through to Ziva and she realized he, the director and Noah were all staring at her.

"I'm sorry, did I miss something?" she asked.

Jenny gave her a sideways look. "Ziva, are you alright?"

"Yeah, it's just… I think Tony's on a date with McGee's sister," Ziva said, stretching to see over the heads of the people between them and the table at which she had spied her coworker.

"Are you serious?!" Jenny said, sounding like a teenager gossiping with a friend. They were all straining to see.

"I believe Anthony may be asking for trouble," Ducky commented.

"I just feel so badly for him," Jenny said, before catching herself.

"You don't think he's over Kate?" Ziva questioned.

"Of course not," she said. "But we probably shouldn't discuss it."

"That's no fun," Noah said, weighing in with his two cents.

"Well, fun or not it wouldn't be professional for me to talk about any of you, would it?" she asked, turning the tables on them.

"Of course not," they all mumbled under their breaths, thinking of the things she could tell on them if she took a notion to.

"Tony's lucky Tim and Abby begged off," Noah said, changing the subject back to the situation at hand.

"I don't know," Ziva said, "it would be fun to watch."

---

Maggie closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. "Jethro, that smells incredible," she said. They were almost to his place and she could smell the dinner he had put together for them.

"I hope you like it," he said almost shyly. "I made it myself."

"Then I know it will be great," she said convincingly. "You don't do anything halfway."

"After tonight I'm sure you won't forget that," he said seductively.

"Don't start," she warned him. "I'm hungry."

"So am I," he said, intentionally twisting her meaning. She chuckled.

He unlocked the door and escorted her inside. "This is it," he said as he led her down the hall and put her bag in his bedroom. She was pleased with what she saw of his place. It was mostly Spartan, with a few personal touches here and there. It suited him. It smelled of sawdust, cleaning solution and man. Jethro, specifically. Maggie imagined that if she ever felt lost or alone, a few hours with that smell would bring her right back to herself. Presently, his place smelled primarily of dinner. Maggie let him lead her to the kitchen where he had set the table for dinner.

"It's lovely," she said, looking at all the work he had put in. She gasped, "You made boxty!" She giggled. "And soda bread and… mmmmm… is that beef stew?"

"Family recipe," he said with a hint of blush in his cheeks.

"Thank you," she said sincerely. She suspected this was not a normal date with Jethro Gibbs. Of course, nothing about their relationship was normal by any stretch of the imagination. They had gone from an intense, but denied, physical attraction to distrust and suspicion, and then to anger, to friendship, and finally to this. Whatever it was.

Dinner was comfortable, but far from relaxed. There was an undercurrent of tension that was almost tangible. The air practically crackled with the intensity in their long looks and suggestive glances. Maggie chuckled again as the background song changed from Ella Fitzgerald to Eric Clapton.

"I have eclectic tastes in music," he explained.

"You made a mix CD?" she asked incredulously.

"Yep," he said.

"Without help?" she overemphasized her disbelief. He gave her a warning glance.

"You're pushing your luck," he threatened.

"Oh," she teased. She stood and sauntered toward him seductively. "What happens when I go too far?" she purred.

"Push and find out," he challenged, meeting her heated gaze.

She slid between him and the table and gently pulled him to his feet. There was so little room between her and the chair that it left them mere centimeters apart. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into his embrace. He lifted her and sat her on the edge of the table as he leaned in to her, capturing her mouth in a deep, soft kiss. Maggie marveled at how different this was than their first kiss. Although equally passionate, this kiss was as thorough as the first was desperate. She whimpered when he stepped away from her, making him chuckle. Taking the hand he held out to her, she hopped off the table and allowed him to lead her into the living room. There was a beautiful fire in the wood-burning fireplace. He had made a pallet on the floor in front of the fireplace with several pillows and a soft blanket. She smiled as she watched him walk around the room, lighting the candles he had set out before her arrival.

"Wow," she said.

"You ain't seen nothing yet," he promised.

---

"Hey, that tickles," Abby said, pushing away from Tim and splashing water all over the floor in the process. "Don't worry, I'll clean that up," she quickly said.

"Abs, the last thing I'm worried about right now is a little water on the floor," he said with a gleam in his eye.

"Oh really," she said as she climbed over and sat on his lap. She wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck. "What ARE you worried about?"

"Right now?" he asked. "Nothing at all. Everything's perfect," he continued, kissing her deeply. She moaned in the back of her throat as she returned the kiss.

"You should do this for a living," she said, when he finally broke the kiss. He chuckled, and then kissed her again.

Just as things were getting interesting, his phone rang.

"Just ignore it," he said, trying to continue kissing her.

"Tim, what if it's important?" she asked, turning her head to the side.

"Okay," he finally agreed. He stood up, taking her with him and making her laugh out loud. He carried her, both of them dripping water and bubbles all over the place.

"Hello," he said, surprised someone had actually let the phone ring twelve times.

"Tim? It's Sarah," he heard his sister's frantic voice.

"Sarah?!" he said. He sat Abby on her feet. His eyes met hers, with every bit of the concern he felt showing through. "What is it?"

"I think I did something really stupid," she said.

"Are you in trouble?" he asked, still concerned about the sound he detected in her voice.

"No, I'm fine," she assured him. "It's just… Never mind." She quickly disconnected the line.

---

"She hung up," he explained to Abby. "She said she was fine, but that she had done something stupid."

"Call her back, sweetie. You know you won't be able to rest until you know that she's okay," Abby reasoned.

"Okay." His fingers raced across the number pad as he dialed her sister's mobile number. "No answer."

"Sarah, it's Tim. Call me when you get this," he left a short message.

"I'm sure she'll call back if it's important," she tried to smooth things over.

"I hope so," he said with a hint of worry in his tone.


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter 28

"You are a romantic soul, Jethro," Maggie said softly. She was sitting in his arms with her back against his chest. His arms were wrapped around her, as they both stared into the flames of the fireplace. They had made love several times, and were now simply enjoying one another's company.

"I know," he said, as if apologizing. "It has gotten me into trouble before," he warned.

Maggie chuckled. "So I've heard," she said.

"What have you heard?" he asked.

"Only that you've made quite a few trips down the aisle and lived to regret it," she said.

"True," he agreed. "No one has gone into detail about my past?" he asked, fishing for how much she knew.

"No one has said anything," she said. "But I know about your first wife and child," she admitted quietly. "It was in the initial reports NPID gave Noah and me when we first came to NCIS."

Jethro kissed her on the cheek.

"Thanks for your honesty," he said. He was silent for a while before continuing. "I kept the truth about them secret from a lot of people for a long time. It wasn't trying to cut them out, I just thought of my memories of Shannon and Kelly as mine. My memories were all I had left. I guess I felt that if I shared the story I would lose something. Keeping silent really hurt people I consider my friends."

"You don't have to talk about it now if you don't want," Maggie said. "I've loved and lost before, and I know it isn't easy to recount those memories. Sometimes the grief is so raw, it is almost like living through it again."

He was silent for a few more moments before she continued. "Besides, it's spoiling the mood," she said as she turned in his arms and initiated another kiss. She leaned into him, kissing him with all the longing she had been feeling for months. She straddled him, wrapping her legs around him. He groaned.

"Are you trying to kill me?" he asked good-naturedly. She laughed.

"I think you'll survive," she responded with a wicked look in her eye. He lifted her from his lap, rose and carried her to his bedroom. The weekend had only just begun.

---

"Anything?" Abby asked worriedly. Tim hadn't been able to fall asleep the night before. He was clearly very worried about his sister. It was barely 0600 and he was already pacing, having attempted to contact her in every way he knew how.

"I'm going over there," he said decidedly.

"And I'm going with you," Abby said with an equal amount of determination, and leaving no room for argument.

---

"Sarah, if you're in there, open the door?" McGee shouted, after knocking on the door for the seventh or eighth time.

"I don't think she's here, Tim," Abby said.

---

"Pardon me, but you aren't supposed to be here," a lady said in protest.

"We're federal agents," McGee said showing his badge to the lady. "NCIS. We need to get in this room."

"First of all, you should have come to the front desk and had someone escort you upstairs," the lady began. "Second, I cannot let you in this room without a warrant."

Ignoring the lady, McGee turned back to the door and pounded once again, "SARAH!"

"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to leave," she said while taking him by the arm. He shook her hand off. Abby turned to face the lady with a plaintive expression, her eyes begging for understanding.

"Ma'am, I appreciate the position you are in, but the girl in this room is his sister. She called last night very upset. The line disconnected, and we haven't been able to reach her," Abby explained.

"Well, why didn't you just say so," she said, her scowl turning to a smile. "Let me just head downstairs and grab the spare key."

"Thank you," Abby said sweetly. After the lady had left, Abby turned to Tim, "You catch more flies with honey, you know."

---

The room had revealed little clues to Sarah's whereabouts. It looked as if she had hurriedly packed and left. There was no note for her roommate, nothing in her calendar and no other obvious clues. McGee and Abby searched as thoroughly as possible. McGee slipped Sarah's calendar into Abby's bag since the lady wouldn't allow them to take anything from the room. He only hoped they would find something when they had more time to examine it.

---

Sounds of the pounding Ziva was giving the punching bag echoed through the gym as she worked out all the frustration she was feeling. She knew she had made the right decision. Staying away from Noah was the only thing that made sense. But she didn't want to. Not really. Her mind flashed back to memories of the many times they had been together before she pulled away. With each memory she only attacked the bag with that much more vigor.

"Whoa…" a voice interrupted her thoughts, "what did that bag ever do to you?"

"Busy right now," Ziva ignored the interruption and continued, each blow landing solidly and with force.

"Remind me not to get on your bad side," he continued speaking.

"I said…" Ziva began, and then stopped short as she recognized the voice. She spun around to make eye contact with the one person she least expected to see. "But how… what…?" Her eyes locked with his, which were shining blue and bright. "But I saw…" she continued in confusion.

"Umm... surprise?" Navy Lt. Roy Sanders replied with a grin. He caught her in his arms as she fainted.


	29. Chapter 29

Chapter 29

'Vampires,' Ziva thought to herself as she pushed to run even faster. Six months ago she didn't know they existed, and now if she wasn't thinking about one, she was thinking of another. She couldn't believe that Roy was a vampire. And in Noah's line, no less. She laughed at the irony. 'What would he think of that?' she wondered. She suddenly realized she knew little of how things worked in Noah's world. She shook her head. She knew she didn't want a relationship with a vampire because she didn't want the uncontrollable emotional ties that came with giving herself to one – not now that she had experienced it.

There were exactly two guys who had been able to reach her on a deep level that made her want to want more, and it turns out they were both vampires. Apparently Roy had a close vampire friend who had mentored him for years. Even when he was suffering and dying from radiation poisoning, he wasn't certain he would make the choice to join the undead. But meeting her had influenced his decision. She slowed a bit. 'Did he really choose to come back just to be with me?' she asked herself. She pushed harder, increasing her pace. When she had asked him why he waited so long to come to her, he told her he was learning to control himself. That statement in itself was enough to remind Ziva what she was dealing with. She needed to talk to Noah, but she was afraid of how the conversation would go.

---

"Wake up, McGee," Gibbs barked, slapping him on the back of the head.

"Sorry, boss," McGee said. Gibbs saw McGee's red eyes and the large black circles surrounding them.

"Everything okay?" he asked.

"My sister is missing," he answered softly. "She called me Friday night to say she thought she had made a mistake. She sounded really upset. I haven't been able to find her since. Abby and I have been working around the clock all weekend," he explained, his voice showing his exhaustion.

"Let me know if we can help," he said. "Where is everyone?" Gibbs added frustrated. "0800 on a Monday morning and I only have McGee to work with?" he barked.

"Boss, Maggie is here, but she is in with the director," McGee quickly answered.

"And…" Gibbs continued.

"And I don't know," he admitted, shrugging his shoulders.

"Sorry, Gibbs," Ziva said, rushing off the elevator. "My run took a little longer than normal and then…"

"Run on your own time, Ziva," he interrupted.

"Yes sir," she replied, sitting at her desk. She tossed McGee a glance and mouthed, "What's wrong?" McGee shook his head no, as if he didn't want to talk about it.

"Ziva, McGee is looking for his sister. Help," Gibbs said. "I'm going for coffee. DiNozzo and Diamond better be here when I get back," he said as he stepped onto the elevator.

"Is he talking about your sister, Sarah?" Ziva asked.

"Yeah, she called me Friday night and things seemed off, and now I can't find her. I'd like to think it's nothing, but I'm really worried."

"We saw her Friday night, Tim," Ziva said. She went on to explain the details.

"I can't believe he would… But where is he? I need to see Abby. If Tony… I'll kill him," McGee rambled and made his way to the elevator to go to Abby's lab. Ziva shook her head as she watched him go, and began searching to see if there was somewhere her coworker's sister could be that he hadn't found.

"Where is everyone?" Noah said, making his way to his desk. He sat down and started up his computer.

"Maggie's with the director, Tim is down with Abby, Gibbs went for coffee – he's upset that you and Tony are late," she added.

"So were you," he commented. When she cocked an eyebrow at him he added, "I saw you on your way in. I had an errand," he added. "So tell me about Roy Sanders," he said, his eyes flashing with emotion that she couldn't quite identify.

"I don't have time to talk about this, Noah," Ziva said. "Apparently after we saw McGee's sister Friday night, she called him upset and then disappeared. He and Abby have spent the entire weekend searching for her. And Tony's late, so…"

"Where is DiNozzo?" Gibbs barked. "Nice of you to join us, Diamond," he added.

"He's not answering any of his phones," Ziva answered, "but he was the last person that we know saw Sarah."

"Find him, now," Gibbs said, heading toward the elevator with his coffee and a Caf-Pow!

---

"I know werewolves heal quickly, but I want you to seriously consider my offer," Director Shepard said. She had called Agent Sullivan in early that morning to discuss her options at NCIS. "You've been through so much since you've joined us here. You've been kidnapped, your best friend was murdered, you've been wounded…" she trailed off.

"Director, I appreciate your consideration," Maggie said with a smile, "but I promise you I have never felt better. I've had a lot to deal with, and I think being here can only help me move past those things. Physically, I'm perfect. I'm here. I'm ready to work. I don't want to take time off right now," she insisted. "It has taken time, but I feel like I finally have a good working relationship with the team. I don't think me leaving right now would be a good choice."

Jenny smiled at Maggie. "I understand. I still think you would be better off emotionally if you took a couple of weeks off, but I will honor your wishes."

"Thank you, ma'am," Maggie said respectfully. Their conversation was interrupted with the buzzing of the phone.

"Yes?" Jen answered.

"Have you heard from DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked her in an irritated tone.

"No, I haven't heard anything… Is something wrong?" she asked.

"He's not here," Gibbs said, as if that explained everything. "McGee's worried about his sister. He hasn't been able to find her. And apparently DiNozzo was with her Friday night."

"Yes, we saw them together at dinner," Jen confirmed.

"Abby and McGee are going through Sarah's calendar, which McGee apparently took from her dorm room Saturday morning. Ziva and Noah are also working on it."

"Jethro, there are a couple of cases to be wrapped up, but you're welcome to use your team to follow up on this," Jenny approved.

"I wasn't asking," Gibbs said as he hung up.

Maggie sat in silence, waiting for the Director to continue.

"Sorry about that," Jen said smoothly. "If you're determined to work, I won't make leave time mandatory. I do wish you would consider a vacation soon."

"I'll think about it," Maggie said agreeably. "Thank you," she rose and left the office.

---

'Maggie's met someone,' Noah thought to himself as he watched her descend the stairs from the Director's office. He always knew. It was something in the way she walked or the way she carried herself that gave it away. He determined to give her a hard time about it. Later. After he talked about Roy Sanders with Ziva. He couldn't believe a new vampire was his competition, but it appeared that was the case. He knew that if Roy knew he was interested in Ziva that he would back off. Ziva would hate that. He still didn't know how he would deal with the situation. No vampire in his line would dare compete with him for anything. But he knew Ziva wouldn't stand for him to use his vampire authority to control the situation. She would want to choose, and he would have to stand by her decision. It's hard to be diplomatic when you're used to ruling.

---

"Mags!" Abby said, trying to infuse enthusiasm into her voice in spite her mental and physical exhaustion.

"Any luck?" Maggie asked.

"Nothing so far," McGee said. "Sarah has a series of notes in her calendar that Abby thinks might represent something other than the obvious, but we haven't figured it out yet." He passed the calendar to Maggie.

"Hmmm…" Maggie perused the notes, looking for some sort of pattern or something that would stand out as different. "She met with JS at least six times. She has Friday night circled, but doesn't indicate any initials for Tony," she noted. "I have no idea what the other notes mean."

"Has Tony come in yet," Tim asked with a hint of anger in his voice.

"Nope," Gibbs said as he entered the room. "He's not answering any of his phones. Ziva and Noah just left for his house."

"Does she have any favorite hang outs or places she goes when she needs to get away?" Maggie asked even though she knew he had already been thinking.

"Not that I know of. She's young. We are close, but not to the point that I know those things about her. I've left a message for her best friend and for her roommate," Tim added hopefully.

"Tim?" a soft voice interrupted him. "I'm so sorry!" Sarah entered the lab, escorted by Director Shepard.

"Sarah!" McGee rushed to embrace his sister. "What is going on? You sounded so upset. You weren't answering your phones. We couldn't locate you anywhere…"

"Shh… calm down, Tim," Sarah responded, calming herself more than him. "I just got your messages and came directly here. I'm sorry for worrying you, but I'm afraid there really is a problem."

"What's the problem?" Abby asked.

"Is this about Tony?" Gibbs questioned. Sarah met his eyes.

"I'm sorry," she said as tears began to fall down her face. "He said he was a friend of Tony's from college and he was going to play a prank on him. I played along because I thought it would be fun," she turned to her brother. "I wouldn't date someone that much older than me for real, you know that." She continued, "Anyway, after I led Tony to the pre-arranged location they took him away, and Jared made a comment that scared me. I don't think it's a prank," she said, crying even harder. Gibbs grabbed her by the shoulders firmly, but gently. He looked into her face.

"Sarah, it's okay, but we have to ask you a few more questions. Don't fall apart now," he said. "Jared who? And what did he say that made you think it wasn't a joke?"

"Jared Simpson. He's dating my roommate's best friend. He's former army, and a bit of a practical joker," Sarah explained. "He said, 'You have no idea how much I have to gain from this', and he had this demented look that really scared me. That's when I called Tim," she explained, tears falling again. But before I could tell him, he threatened me and I had to hang up. I went home and packed and just ran. I went to a hotel, registered under a fake name and paid cash. I was really scared. I'm sorry I waited so long to call you again. I hope he's okay," her voice had softened.

"We'll find him," Gibbs assured her. "Unfortunately, we're going to need you to stay here so we can get as much information from you as possible."

"That's fine," she agreed.

"Sullivan, take her up to interrogation," he barked.

"On it, boss," Maggie said, leading the younger woman upstairs.

"Already on it," McGee said before Gibbs could order him to begin finding what he could about Jared Simpson.


	30. Chapter 30

Chapter 30

"What do we got?" Gibbs shouted as he entered the bullpen.

"It turns out Jared Simpson is already on CID's watch list. They were alerted when we began our investigation," Ziva said.

"Great," he muttered. "Why?"

"He was suspected of being involved with an illegal sale of intel to the Chinese. There was no actual proof of his involvement. Others were arrested, but he came out clean. He was later dishonorably discharged from the army for an unrelated incident. Something about insubordination and assaulting an officer," McGee explained.

"And what does he want with DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked.

"Umm… We don't know," McGee admitted.

"Last known address?" Gibbs asked.

"Hume, Missouri, boss," Ziva answered.

"You and Diamond pack up," he ordered. "Plan to spend at least one night. I want you to talk to anyone and everyone who knew this guy. His barber; his priest; his mother's sister's best friend's nephew. Got it?"

"On it," they answered in unison already heading to the elevator.

---

Maggie emerged from interrogation with more information than she expected, although they still didn't have much to go on. She had spent some time taking everything she could from Sarah. Later, Sarah's roommate Eliza and her best friend Lane, who had been dating Simpson, we brought in for questioning. Maggie made her way to her desk.

"Anything?" Gibbs asked.

"Nothing remarkable, but a few things to chase down," she responded.

"Get to it," he said shortly as he made his way toward the elevator. Before he made it, the doors opened and Lt. Col. Hollis Mann stepped off.

"Not so fast, Jethro," Mann said.

"I thought we might see you today, Holl," he responded. "I don't have time to hold your hand, I have a missing agent. Sullivan will fill you in on any details," he said gruffly as he disappeared into the elevator.

"You must be Agent Sullivan," Mann introduced herself to Maggie. "I'm with Army CID," she added in explanation of her presence there.

"DiNozzo was taken by a former soldier on your watch list Friday night. A Jared Simpson," Maggie said as she put the information up on the screen. "We know how he baited and abducted him. We know his name, where he was working, last known address, etc. We have his phone records and family history. What we don't have is any sort of motive for holding Tony," Maggie explained. "McGee is tracking his financial records, and Abby is working on trying to pull files from his girlfriend's laptop. She claims he used it several times while he was with her."

"Nice work," Mann said with a smile. "We'll be sure to keep you in the loop," she said, attempting to take the file from Maggie.

"I don't think so," Maggie said, holding the file out of her reach. "I briefed you on our progress because Gibbs instructed me to do so. I sincerely doubt NCIS will be handing this investigation over to you, and I will continue to take my orders directly from Gibbs and Director Shepard with no interference, until I am specifically told otherwise," she said confidently.

"So you're new, but no pushover," Mann said with a skeptical laugh. "Jethro has trained you well already."

"I've been here nearly six months. I may be new to NCIS, but I wasn't born yesterday," Maggie said, standing her ground. Mann cocked an eyebrow and grinned. Maggie knew she was humoring her, thinking she was in her twenties. It was at that point Gibbs returned.

"Stop harassing my agents," he said irritably. "Please," he added. "And you can go ahead and back off. We'll allow you to assist, but NCIS will be leading this investigation to its completion. One of our own is jeopardy," Gibbs said, not giving her a chance to comment. He began to make his way to the Director's office.

"Jethro?" Mann tried to stop him. The elevator dinged and Fornell stepped off.

"Tobias," Gibbs said, retracing his steps to greet him. "While her visit was expected, I can't fathom what would bring you here today."

"I can't let you touch Simpson," Fornell said shaking his head. "He is suspected of trying to procure some classified intel for sale to the highest bidder. We have an agent undercover and are really close to taking him out, along with his buyer who is our primary target."

"I respect your position, Tobias, and I can promise you we will not compromise your operation if it isn't completely necessary. But we will continue to lead this investigation until DiNozzo is out of it," Gibbs said, leaving no room for argument. The buzzing of the phone interrupted them.

"Gibbs, it's Abby," he heard when he answered his line. "I think we might have something."

"On my way," he responded. Gibbs, Sullivan, Mann and Fornell all made their way to Abby's lab.

---

"That was quick," Abby said as they paraded into the lab. "And we have guests."

"The report, Abs?" Gibbs questioned impatiently.

"We've been able to isolate some activity from Lane's computer according to the dates and times she gave us that Simpson was using her computer. There were some transactions with a bank in Zurich that McGee is cross checking with Simpson's financial records. He also spent a lot of time networking on a couple of military forums, and some time exchanging instant messages. Some seem innocent enough, but others are a little bizarre. I suspect he was using some sort of code," Abby explained hurriedly. "I traced the IP addresses of the people he was IMing with, and came up with a hit. The strange messages in question were exchanged with someone located right here in DC, in a private residence; 146 Bell Avenue," she recited. "The home owner is Edward Jeffers, but he is supposedly out of the country. He works security at the Pentagon," she added excitedly. "We are still working on decoding the messages," Abby added, although Gibbs had already turned his attention to McGee.

"And the money?" Gibbs asked.

"So far we have been able to trace a total of $3.6 million that has been transferred into Simpson's account from an unknown entity. I haven't found a link to Jeffers, but I'm working on it," McGee reported.

"Also," Abby interjected, "the topics he read on the forums were related to a rumored experimental SONAR system for nuclear submarines that the Navy won't confirm or deny the existence of. He only lurked – no posting," she added.

"What?" Gibbs asked for clarification.

"He only read information and the comments others were making," she explained. "He didn't actually type anything or give any information to anyone."

"We just received a call from the SecNav," Director Shepard said as she entered the lab. "We have twenty-four hours to find DiNozzo before Homeland Security takes over our investigation," she warned. "I drove a hard bargain, but that was all I could get."

"Let's move!" Gibbs barked. "McGee, Abby; keep working on the financial records and decode those messages. Sullivan; grab your gear. You're with me."

"I'm going with you," Mann insisted as she practically ran to keep up with them.

"Suit yourself," he said without looking back.


	31. Chapter 31

Chapter 31

Gibbs was on his phone before they reached door. "Where do we stand?"

"No leads yet," Ziva responded. "So far no one is lying about not knowing him, or his whereabouts. We still have a lot of ground to cover. Our plane only got here two hours ago," she reported.

"Hurry it up," Gibbs ordered. "Our deadline just got tighter. If we don't find him in twenty-four hours we'll lose the investigation." He disconnected the line without waiting for a response.

"Change of plan," he announced when he reached the parking area. "Tobias should go with me to the Pentagon to check with Jeffers' superiors and then to Welling Prospects, where Simpson was employed. Holl, you can go with Agent Sullivan to Jeffers' residence. See if you can find anything; preferably Jeffers, Simpson or a clue to their location."

"Works for me," Maggie said, grabbing her keys from her bag.

"Keep me informed," Gibbs ordered as he and Tobias got into his vehicle and sped away.

---

The ringing of Mann's phone interrupted the silence in the vehicle. It was one of her team members giving an update on the information she requested on Maggie Sullivan. Maggie continued to drive, her expression not showing that she could hear every word of the conversation.

'You'll have to speak directly with the director of her organization,' the caller said. 'Apparently I don't have the proper clearance.'

"That's fine," Mann responded. The caller clicked off as she connected the call.

'Clearance?' a voice Maggie recognized well barked in Mann's ear. She rattled off the necessary information, and then he continued. 'NPID is the National Preternatural Investigative Division, originally of the CIA. We are now a separate entity, although we retained the acronym,' he explained. Mann remained silent, not sure how to ask her questions without revealing the nature of her call to Agent Sullivan. 'We investigate matters related to the preternatural, and deal with things like vampires and werewolves.'

"You're serious?" Mann questioned skeptically. Maggie's mouth quirked into a half-smile. People were always hesitant to believe in things they had never seen.

'I don't have time to go into the details, but yes, we are very serious,' he responded as he disconnected the line.

Mann snapped her phone shut and stared forward, shaking her head. She was building herself into a nice upset.

"That was Director Murphy of the NPID," Mann said shortly.

"I thought so," Maggie admitted.

"So you're telling me you actually believe in things like that?" Mann asked condescendingly.

Maggie shrugged her shoulders noncommittally. "I didn't say anything. You can believe what you want. It's your call," she answered.

"You aren't going to try to convince me it's true?" Mann questioned almost combatively.

"Nope," Maggie said with a smile. "You can choose to live in ignorance if you want. Like I said, it's your call."

"So now you're calling me ignorant?" she retorted.

"That's not what I said," Maggie said without changing the pleasant tone of her voice.

"I would like to have been a fly on the wall when Jethro found out. I can guarantee you he thinks this is bunk. Trust me, I know Jethro," she said assuredly.

Maggie cocked an eyebrow, "You'd be surprised."

Mann's expression continued to darken. "You don't have to be so condescending," she said in another attempt to provoke Maggie.

Maggie slowed the car and turned to face Mann. "Pardon me, ma'am, but you're the one pressing the issue. Did I try to convince you to my way of thinking? No. Did I try to debate you in any way? No. Yet you seem bound and determined to go toe to toe with me on an issue that we both know I know more about than you do? That's just silly. I tried to be tolerant and allow you to think what you will without debate. Isn't that what you want? Because if you want proof that the preternatural exists, trust me, I could give it to you." Maggie paused a moment to catch her breath. "I don't know if your problem is with me personally, or professionally, but I suggest you get it under control before we get to Jeffers' place." Maggie's face registered her frustration, her eyes flashing with emotion.

Mann sat in shocked silence for a while, and then laughed out loud. "I'm sorry," she said. "I really am. You're right," she admitted. "Can we start over?"

Maggie sat in silence and then turned to smile at Mann. "I don't see why not," she said.

"You make a really good point. I think I purposely baited you because I want you to convince me it's true."

Maggie turned toward her, "The work I do is classified, but you clearly have the necessary clearance. You will, of course, need to keep everything in the strictest of confidence."

"Of course," Mann agreed curiously. "I got that impression from Director Murphy."

"Later," Maggie said as she pulled into a parking space. "We're here."

---

Flanking the door, weapons drawn, Maggie and Hollis pounded on Jeffers' door. "Federal Agents!" they said in unison.

"Edward Jeffers?!" Maggie shouted. After receiving no response, they kicked the door in together. Mann tossed her a smile, which Maggie returned. They quickly searched the house.

"He's gone," Mann stated the obvious.

"No he's not," Maggie said darting out the back. Mann ran after Maggie but quickly fell behind. She watched as Maggie hopped over the fence and disappeared from sight. She stopped, flipped open her phone and called Gibbs.

"Jethro, it's Hollis," she said. "I think Sullivan is on to something."

"What happened?" he asked.

"We entered the house and everything was quiet. Sullivan took off out of the back of the house. I suppose she saw someone leaving."

"I'm sure that's it," Jethro assured her.

"Jethro, is Sullivan an exhibitionist?" Mann suddenly asked, shocked when she found Maggie's clothes lying next to the dumpster.

"You found her clothes? She can move faster that way. Just leave 'em there," Jethro responded with a laugh. "Go on in and search the house. She'll be back," he said as he hung up.

Mann began going through the house, taking photographs and bagging possible evidence. A cell phone began ringing in the other room. She picked it up and looked at the screen which read, "Simpson". 'Surely it can't be this easy,' she thought. She clicked to answer the phone and remained silent.

"Ed, it's me. I don't think it's gonna work. Those two agents are really close," he paused and awaited a response. "Ed?" he asked, starting to panic. Mann disconnected the line, hoping he wouldn't spook. The last thing they needed was him killing DiNozzo because he felt he was no longer needed. She bagged the phone with the remainder of the evidence. Maybe Abby could trace the call. She wrapped up the scene and then headed back outside to check on Sullivan. To say that what she saw was unexpected was an understatement. A man, presumably Jeffers, was cowed in the fetal position next to the dumpster. A large cooper-haired wolf was standing over him, snarling in warning. 'Am I mistaken, or did the wolf just nod to me?' she thought to herself. When she made no move toward them, the wolf whined in her direction and nodded toward the man. Mann shrugged her shoulders as she approached.

"Easy, boy," Mann said to the wolf, holding her hand out calmingly. Maggie whined. Mann identified herself, handcuffed Mr. Jeffers and took him to the car to wait for Sullivan. 'Surely not,' she thought as she shook her head. 'No way.'

Maggie grabbed her clothes in her mouth and jumped into the passenger seat of the car through the open driver-side door while Mann was securing the suspect. Mann eyed the wolf and then the clothes. She stared deeply into the wolf's eyes. 'You've got to be kidding me,' she thought as realization struck. Maggie growled and nodded toward the road.

"Okay, okay, I'm going," Mann said with a smile, still not sure if she believed what she was seeing.


	32. Chapter 32

Chapter 32

"It's just not going to happen," Ziva said pessimistically. "Every lead we've had has led nowhere. We aren't going to save Tony in time, and Gibbs is going to kill us."

"Kill you," Noah amended. "I'm already dead," he reminded her with a smirk.

"Wipe the smile off your face, Diamond," she said. "You already held us up trying to find a plane with five available seats. Was it really necessary for you to bring three other women along?"

"A man's gotta eat," he reminded her. She rolled her eyes.

"You aren't a man," she debated.

"Oh, I beg to differ," he asserted. "Or do you need a reminder?" Noah said suggestively. Ziva blushed as her body automatically responded to his flirting.

"Stop it, Noah," she said. "You know what I meant…" her voice trailed off as she noticed he was standing strangely still.

"We're close," he said as he made his way toward a storefront.

"Malone's Tire and Bible Center," Ziva read aloud. "Am I missing something?" she inquired.

"No, they don't go together," he confirmed. "But I think the owner knows where Simpson is holding DiNozzo."

"Let's go," Ziva said, suddenly professional. Noah took the lead as they entered the store.

"Pardon me, ma'am," Noah began. "We were told you had information on the whereabouts of Jared Simpson. Oh, I'm sorry," he continued while listening to the woman's thoughts, "we forgot introductions. Noah Diamond, and this is Ziva David; we're with NCIS," he flashed his badge and his most charming smile. The woman practically melted. Any thoughts she had been thinking went straight out of her head.

"He's my cousin," she said softly. "He doesn't want anyone to know where he is," she suddenly realized what she had told them. Her brow crinkled in confusion. 'Why did I tell him that?' she asked herself.

"So he's here in Hume?" Ziva asked. The woman put her head down, avoiding their eyes. 'I knew he was up to no good. He told me that guy he has with him was trouble. I don't know what to do,' she thought.

"I don't think I can help you," she said sadly.

"Ma'am," Noah said, taking her hand. "I know this is a difficult situation for you," his eyes met hers. She almost swooned. Ziva rolled her eyes. "We mean him no harm, we only need to find…" he stopped short when he realized she had just told him everything he needed in her thoughts. "Never mind, I won't press you," he said with a smile. "Call us if you need anything at all," he said with a wink as he handed her his business card and they rushed out the door.

---

"Gibbs! Perfect timing, as usual," Abby said perkily as he entered the lab.

"Why am I here, Abby?" Gibbs asked, his frustration at not having found Tony starting to rise to the surface.

"The evidence Mann gathered from Jeffers' place was mostly useless, but…" she added quickly, "I was able to put a back trace on the call from Simpson. He was definitely calling from Hume," she confirmed.

"Something we don't know?" he asked. "Please say there's more," he added.

"Of course," she said. "I have a lock on the signal of the phone he used. It's still on," she explained. "He's at a farm on the outskirts of town. I've pulled up satellite images and have confirmed that is where he took Tony," Abby said as she put the images onto the screen. "See," she said as she gave him the address.

"Beautiful work," he said giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"Happy to oblige," she called out as he was leaving.

Gibbs' phone rang. "Gibbs!" he answered.

"Boss, we found Tony," Ziva said as they pulled into the driveway of the farm.

"They're out back in the stables. Only Simpson and DiNozzo, as far as I know," Gibbs filled them in. Ziva shook her head amazed at how he was always a step ahead.

"The stables," she instructed Noah as they made their way out back. "How did you…?" she continued on the line with Gibbs.

"Abby," Gibbs said simply. "Don't forget, the FBI wants Simpson alive."

---

"Tony!" Abby said running to give him a hug, and practically knocking him down in the process.

"Hey, Abs," he said.

"I'm sorry, Tony," Sarah said quietly from across the room. Tony looked up and met her eyes. He saw the pain and regret she was feeling and smiled at her. He crossed the room and gave her a hug.

"It's alright," he said. "I knew you weren't a part of this," he explained.

"But I just feel so…"

"Don't," Tony interrupted her. He hugged her tighter and kissed the top of her head. McGee cleared his throat. Loudly. The two separated guiltily and Sarah blushed. "What's wrong, Probie?" Tony teased, letting McGee see him leer at his sister. He wagged his eyebrows at McGee.

"Stop teasing him, Tony," Ziva said lightheartedly. She was so excited to have Tony back. She hadn't thought of Noah or Roy for almost an hour.

"But it's so easy," Tony explained as he allowed Ziva to lead him out of the room.

McGee turned to Abby, "So now what?" he asked.

"Jeffers broke easily," Abby explained to McGee, who had been out of the loop working on the money trail. "It seems he was nearly attacked by a vicious wolf earlier today," she said with a mischievous grin. McGee laughed. "Simpson followed suit, especially once we had the information from Jeffers. Gibbs has turned them both over to the FBI so they can set something up to catch the buyer. Homeland Security is off the Director's back and on the FBI," she smirked.

"I'm glad they were able to find Jeffers and get him to talk," McGee said. "Not only was I unable to find a link between him and Simpson, but Gibbs and Fornell came up empty with their questioning at the Pentagon as well. I don't know how we would have gotten him," he said pensively.

"Maybe Agent Sullivan needs a raise and Mann needs to join our team," Gibbs said as he walked in the room.

"I was going to suggest dinner out," Mann said as she walked up behind him, "but if you insist…"

"Dinner out works for me," he said and looked back to McGee and Abby. "My treat; spread the word," he said as he left the room.

---

They stepped on the elevator. Mann turned to Gibbs.

"I had something more private in mind," she said with a smile.

"Really?" he said sarcastically. "Look, Holl, we were over a long time ago. I'm not looking for a history lesson," he said with a smile. "I appreciate the work you did here today."

"No problem," she said as he stepped off the elevator.


	33. Chapter 33

Chapter 33

"Uh, Abs?" Tim said.

"Yeah," she answered half-asleep.

"I think I'm stuck," he said uncomfortably.

"Coffin sleep doesn't suit you, babe," she said giving him a long good morning kiss. "I'll help you up," she said suggestively.

"That wasn't exactly what I had in mind," he responded, turning toward her, "but I'm not complaining."

"We're going to be late again," she told him.

"No we're not," he responded.

"Oh yes we are," Abby said as she straddled him and pushed him onto his back. "And I don't want to hear any argument," she added.

"It's Saturday," he said with a smile, which she returned. There was no question as to how they would spend their weekend.

---

Maggie awoke slowly to the smells of soap, coffee and breakfast flooding her senses. She rolled over into the place Jethro had vacated. It still smelled of him. She smiled and made her way to her kitchen, where he had made himself at home. She drank in the sight of him in snug blue jeans, shirtless, standing in front of her stove with his back to her, his hair still wet from the shower.

"Good morning," she said as she slid her arms around his waist from behind, and rested her cheek on his bare back.

"It certainly is," he said as he turned to face her. Sliding his arms inside her robe, he pulled her to him. He smiled as she brought her mouth up to meet his.

"Your eggs are browning," she said against his mouth.

"I don't care," he said, making her laugh. He slapped her on the rear gently and winked at her, before turning his attention back to breakfast.

Maggie smiled as she looked at the large meal he had prepared. "You're spoiling me," she said as she poured herself a cup of coffee. She stood by the patio door and stared out into her large yard thinking about how nice it was having him there.

"Breakfast is almost ready," he informed her, interrupting her musings. She retrieved the butter and fresh-squeezed juice from the refrigerator and began setting the table. They moved around the room very comfortably, as if they had done this many times before.

"I love weekends," she said contentedly. "Two weeks ago, I would have told you I preferred the office," she said with a smirk.

He gave her a knowing look, "Couldn't have said it better myself."

"You did a great job on this last case," Gibbs added, "in case I didn't tell you."

"You didn't, but I understand how it is," Maggie said diplomatically.

"I'm such a bastard to you at work, soon you won't want me around," he said.

"It would be different if I didn't know the situation," she said with a smile. "And there's no chance of me not wanting you, Jethro," Maggie added with a heated look. His eyes met hers and she suddenly couldn't breathe. "They should outlaw a man being as attractive as you," she said half-seriously.

"It's a burden," he agreed jokingly. "Having women like you throwing themselves at me all the time…"

"You should be so lucky," she chuckled.

"I know," he said. "There are no other women like you," he said seriously.

---

Ziva smiled as she lengthened her stride and again took the lead. She tossed back her head and laughed. She couldn't remember the last time she had this much fun on her run. Roy had called her that morning and suggested they run together. At first she hadn't thought it was a very good idea, but she was glad she reconsidered. She gasped in surprise when she felt his hands grab her waist. He picked her up easily and continued running as he tossed her over his shoulder. She pounded her hands on his back and laughed.

"Put me down, Roy," she said through her giggles.

"Not until you beg," Roy teased.

"I'm serious," she said, continuing to pound him. She wiggled free as she felt him slow his pace, and flipped out of his arms. She landed on her feet, automatically taking a defensive stance.

"Whoa…" he said, throwing his arms up.

"I don't beg," she said authoritatively.

"I'll make a note," he said meeting her eyes. She suddenly realized she had never asked him a very important question.

"What power do you have?" she asked.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Every vampire has some sort of special ability. Some can read minds or emotions. Some can see the recent past. Some are clairvoyant. Some can project emotions to others…" she continued.

"Wow, you're well-informed," he said, not expecting her to be familiar at all with his world.

"And?" she demanded.

"Telekinesis," he said softly.

"Wow," she said with a smile. "That's cool. So you promise there is no way you can manipulate my mind?"

"Not with some sort of power," he promised. "I do have to warn you that if our relationship progresses to the next level…"

"I know all about that," she interrupted. He gave her a curious glance.

"Have you been involved with a vampire before?" he asked.

"You could say that," she said and resumed running.

"Ziva?" he vied for her attention as he started running beside her.

"I can't talk about it right now," she said. "But thanks for suggesting we run together," she smiled at him.

"Yeah," he responded, pondering when the day went from great to weird.

---

Tony stood under the hot spray of the shower. 'Kayla?' he thought. 'No, Kylie?' He couldn't remember the name of the woman that was sleeping in his bed. Soon he would be out of hot water literally and in it figuratively, if his brain didn't engage. 'Darnit!' he thought.

After Kate had left, he had gone from deep mourning to being an insensitive jerk to… his old self. Sort of. But the light behind his eyes had dimmed.

'Kaymie!' he suddenly remembered. He chuckled as he shut off the water and reached for his towel. He heard his phone ring. He hurried from the room, towel slung around his waist and water dripping everywhere, and entered the bedroom to answer the phone. Too late. Darn it! She had picked up the phone.

"Hello?" she said, shrugging in apology.

He grabbed the phone from her hand, "DiNozzo," he answered.

"Tony, it's Jenny."

"Hey," he said, his voice perking up. He gained a glare from Kaymie.

"If you're busy…"

"No, not at all," he said with a smile in his voice.

"I was wondering if you could help me out with something today. Unofficially," she added.

"Of course. I'll be right over," he said.

"My place, not the office!" she added before he disconnected.

"I have to go to work," he said to the young lady who was shooting darts at him with her eyes.

"I'm sure," she said condescendingly as she started grabbing her things. She was dressed in a matter of moments. "Sorry to take so much of your time," she said sarcastically as she slammed the door.

"Well, that was awkward," Tony said to himself as he quickly dressed.


	34. Chapter 34

Chapter 34

"Jenny?" Tony called as he walked up the walk to her front door, which was slightly ajar.

"Come in!" she shouted in return. He pushed the door open to find a mess. Cloths, buckets and brushes were everywhere. "Thank you so much, Tony," she began.

"Wait, you asked me over here to help you paint?!" he asked.

She smiled sheepishly. "I'll owe you one?" she asked hopefully.

"Huh, huh, huh," Tony fake-laughed, "I thought… no," he said.

"Please?" she begged. "I just hoped…"

Tony looked down into her eyes. She could see the second his refusal turned to acquiescence. Her pout turned into her brightest smile, which he returned.

"Okay," he said, "but you owe me BIG. And I mean BIGGGG," he said using his hands to emphasize exactly how much 'big' was.

She laughed out loud. "Thank you, Tony," she replied.

---

"Ziva, thank you for meeting me today," Roy said as they made their way back to her place, where they had met to start their run that morning.

"Thanks for suggesting it," Ziva said with a smile. "It was fun." Roy leaned toward her, took her hand and pulled her gently toward him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and allowed him to kiss her the way she had wanted him to the day she met him. He deepened the kiss, moving her toward the door.

She pulled away and shook her head. "Roy, please stop," Ziva said. "I'm not ready for this."

He pulled back and looked at her. "I'm sorry," he said. "I knew we had a connection, and I guess I just moved too fast," he explained.

Ziva threw back her head and laughed. "There is no 'too fast' for me," she admitted. "But I have sort of gotten involved with someone else," she explained.

"Oh," Roy said as he backed away from her. "I didn't realize…"

"Trust me, it was unexpected," she added. "And it's not like I knew you would be back!"

"You're right," he said. "I should have known you wouldn't just wait around forever. I've waited all my life to meet someone like you, and I thought our connection was something really special."

"It was," Ziva said, resting a hand on his cheek. "It really was… Is…," she amended. "I don't know." They were silent for a moment. "I just need some time to figure things out."

"Can we date, or at least spend some time together?" he asked with a charming smile.

She smiled back at him. "That would be nice," she agreed. "Come inside," she motioned toward the door. "There are some things we need to discuss."

He followed her inside and took a seat at her kitchen table.

"It is so weird that this happened when it did," Ziva explained. "If you had mentioned this whole vampire thing that day when we met, I would have immediately dismissed you as an idiot. If I had never met the other person I've been involved with, I wouldn't have learned about that whole world and would still have freaked out when you suddenly reappeared. But I did meet someone else," she said quickly. "So you see, meeting him made it possible for me to be with you now, but it also made it impossible for me to be with you now because I still want him."

"I think I follow that," Roy responded slowly with a grin. "So, are you going to tell me who my competition is?"

"No," Ziva said. "I don't want this to turn into a parking match between the two of you. I have to sort these things out for myself."

"It's 'pissing match'," he corrected with a chuckle, "and I understand. This is your game. I appreciate you letting me play. But I need to know the rules."

---

A gentle breeze tickled Maggie's face. She leaned comfortably against Jethro's side and turned to face the warm sun. He used his legs to propel the porch swing back and forth, as he hummed a random melody. Maggie smiled. She had been doing a lot of that over the past two weeks. The comfortable near-silence was interrupted by his pager. He groaned as Maggie pulled away from him so he could go inside and respond to the page. She followed him through the French doors into the kitchen, where she poured herself a cup of coffee and sat at the table to wait.

"Let's get dressed. Just got a tip over the hotline," he said when he came back in the kitchen.

"Duty calls," she responded with a smile as she rose from her chair, took one final swallow of her coffee and went to the bedroom to change clothes.

"I'll meet you there," Gibbs said. He kissed her softly on the mouth, and then turned to leave.

"Right behind you, bossman" she replied as he left.

---

"Wow," Noah said as he stared at Director Shepard. It was the first time he had seen her in casual attire, and there was something very appealing in her paint splattered jeans, tank top and sandals.

"Very funny, Agent Diamond," she said in response to his greeting.

"I wasn't joking," he continued, causing her to smile.

"Does anyone know what's going on?" McGee asked as the entered the room.

"Apparently something came in on the hotline, Probie" Tony stated the obvious.

"Where's Sullivan?" Gibbs barked, as he looked around the room at the rest of the team.

"I just got her on her cell phone," Abby answered. "She's on her way. Ten minutes tops."

Maggie stepped off the elevator. Gibbs rolled his eyes.

"Gear up," he said gruffly.

"Uh, boss, where're we going?" McGee asked.

"Triple homicide. The bodies were found in the back of an RV registered to marine Lance Corporal Scott Owens," he informed them quickly, and then rattled off the address. "Let's roll, people. Time's a-wasting"


	35. Chapter 35

Chapter 35

"So, Maggie, what took you so long?" Noah asked with a teasing glint in his eye.

"What are you getting at?" she asked, without even pretending to try to figure out to what he was referring.

"Who's the new guy?" he asked flirtatiously.

Maggie smiled. Somehow he always knew. "No one you know," she said cryptically.

"We could change that," he suggested.

"I don't think so," she responded definitively. He laughed.

"So he doesn't know…?" Noah fished.

"He knows," Maggie disagreed.

"What's his name?" he continued to torment her.

"Diamond, that's enough," Gibbs interrupted. "Can we focus?"

"Sorry, boss," he said, tossing a smirk in Maggie's direction. Gibbs smacked him in the back of the head.

"No you're not," Gibbs said with a sideways smile. "Jen, there's really no need for you to go to the scene with us," he said. "I'm not sure why you're here in the first place."

"I'm here because the triple homicide involves the high-profile daughter of a friend. He called me right after the call came in on the hotline," she said smartly. "And the last time I checked, I didn't need your permission, Agent Gibbs."

"Fine, you're with me," he said to her. "Diamond, David; bring the sedan. DiNozzo, McGee, Sullivan; bring the truck and equipment. Ducky and Palmer are still gathering gear and will meet us there. Abs…"

"I know, I'll wait; but hurry so I can work my magic," she said with a big smile.

---

"Come on Jen, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked scornfully, once they were alone.

"It's not what you think, Jethro," she began to explain. He gave her a look that showed he didn't believe her in the slightest. She blushed. "He was helping me paint…"

"Obviously," he said, motioning to the paint spatters in her hair.

"I thought it would take his mind off Kate," she explained. "Not that I owe you an explanation."

"No, you owed me an explanation after Paris," he said pointedly.

"Look, I didn't ask you to cover for me," she began.

"I know, Jen," he said with a smile. "I'm not upset anymore, just making a point."

She met his eyes, her expression softening into first amazement and then confusion. "You really aren't" she said, surprised. "What's changed?"

"People change, Jen," he responded with a shrug. "It just doesn't bother me anymore."

"But there's been this undercurrent of tension between us since I came here. Sort of a thread of something undefined and unresolved. It's like it's just gone," she said, reasoning things out.

Again, he shrugged, making no comment.

"I never thought… unless…," she gasped, "Jethro!"

"What?" he asked.

"You're in love?" she whispered.

"Of course not," he scoffed.

"But you are seeing someone," Jen fished.

"Your point, Jen?" Gibbs asked shortly.

"My point is that this thing between us had always been like an elephant in the room. It didn't subside when you've seen any number of women since I took this job," she explained. "I think your new relationship is more than you realize."

"I beg your pardon, Dr. Shepard," Gibbs quipped. "Did you get your degree while we were out solving cases?"

She giggled, "No, but you have you admit, I'm right."

"What, just because you aren't feeling tension between us anymore?" he questioned. "That doesn't even make sense."

Jen gave him a long look. "You are intentionally being difficult, Jethro. What I'm saying is that since I came here I've felt like you have alternately wanted to choke me and drag me off to bed, and I don't feel that anymore."

"Jealous?" he asked.

"Maybe a little," she admitted.

He smiled. "Now you tell me," he joked.

She laughed out loud.

---

The scene they came upon was particularly gruesome. The bodies of the three young girls were barely recognizable as such. Gibbs winced as he looked at the sight.

"McGee, shoot; Tony, sketch; Ziva, bag and tag; Diamond and Sullivan, talk to the people who found the bodies," he ordered. A chorus of "on it, boss" and "yes sir" sounds were barely intelligible.

Director Shepard turned her back to the scene. "I wonder what's keeping Ducky," she said softly.

"You don't have to stay, Jen," Gibbs said, placing a hand on her shoulder.

She met his eyes with a steely gaze. "I'm staying," she said through a forced smile.

"Suit yourself," he said as he walked away.

Ducky and Jimmy were exiting the vehicle, gear in hand. They stopped in unison about ten feet from the bodies, their expressions immediately sobering.

"Dear God," Ducky said softly.

"What happened to them?" Palmer asked in confusion.

"It appears, Mr. Palmer, that our young victims were mutilated. There are significant portions of the bodies missing, yet the heads are perfectly intact," he explained.

"That much I noticed," Jimmy said. He suddenly gasped, "I know her!"

"Everyone knows her. That's Sophie McMann," DiNozzo said sadly. "Wealthy, famous, hot… She had everything going for her" he added.

"She doesn't look so hot now," Jimmy said. Everyone turned to stare. "Sorry," he apologized, realizing his comment was in poor taste.

"Let's get everything back and make sense of it later," Dr. Mallard said.

"McGee and DiNozzo have taken photos and sketches of the scene," Gibbs informed them. "You can proceed."

"Ziva, get those samples to Abby, stat," Gibbs said shortly. "Come on, people, we need to move before the press gets wind of this."


	36. Chapter 36

Chapter 36

"Seaman Recruit Nancy E. Jones enlisted with the Navy only two months ago. She completed basic training and had just transferred to Anacostia last week," McGee said as he put a picture of one of the victims on the plasma in the bullpen.

"The bartender at the Cheshire Cat recalls seeing all three ladies together last night. They were seen dancing with a man. The bartender was sort of non-specific with details. He said they left together around 11:00," Ziva added. "He remembers because he was going on break at that time."

"Do we have an ID on the third woman yet?" Gibbs asked.

"Abby's working on it, boss," Tony said quickly.

"Let's work faster," Gibbs said. "We can't keep McMann's death out of the media for long. Her father is on his way here."

"Morgan McMann is coming here?" Tony said, looking star struck.

Gibbs gave him a long stare. "Focus?" he reminded DiNozzo.

"Sorry, boss," Tony said as Gibbs smacked him on the back of the head.

---

"You know I can get it if I try, so you may as well tell me," Noah coaxed.

"Noah, get back to work. If Gibbs comes back up from Abby's lab…" Maggie began.

"Stop changing the subject and tell us who he is, so we can get back to work," he reasoned.

"Besides, I'm really good at blocking you from my mind, Noah," she reminded him.

"You're really good at blocking me from your mind while I'm sitting here not trying to read your thoughts. There is no one who is good enough to block me if I really want to read your mind," he said ominously.

Maggie rolled her eyes.

Noah met her gaze and focused his full concentration on her. "Je…" he began.

"Jeff, okay, his name is Jeff!" Maggie interrupted. "And that's all you're getting. Please respect my privacy," she said frustrated.

He smirked at her. "Now, was that so hard?" he asked.

"Smart-alec," she said with an annoyed glare. "Now get to work," she added.

Maggie rose from her seat and walked slowly to the stairwell. 'Just breathe in and out. He can't get to you. He doesn't know, and as long as you feed him a little info from time to time he'll let you be,' she reminded herself. She pushed through the doors into Abby's lab.

"Got something?" Gibbs asked when she entered the room.

"Not really," Maggie replied, shaking her head. "I was checking to see if I could assist Abs in any way."

---

Their conversation was interrupted when Noah's voice echoed through Abby's phone. "Boss, I think we have something," he said. He paused for a response.

"Waiting for an invitation, Diamond?" Gibbs asked.

"Um, not exactly, but this is pretty major and I'd like to speak with you alone," he added.

"On my way," Gibbs said. "Maggie, stay here with Abby while I see what Diamond has."

---

Gibbs left the room quickly and made his way to the elevator. When the doors opened, Noah was there. Gibbs joined him in the elevator, pushed the button for a higher floor, and then hit the elevator stop button.

"What's up?" he asked.

"One of my people, Malcolm, has the ability to see the near past. After the events of this morning, I ordered him to the scene. His report was very disturbing." At Gibbs stare, he continued. "The victims were mutilated and partially eaten by a werewolf. And one I know," Noah said softly.

"I thought werewolves didn't eat people," Gibbs said in confusion and frustration.

"They typically don't," he answered. "But they have the ability to. Werewolves may not take on a wolf's mindset in wolf form, but one who is already twisted can do twisted things. That's why a werewolf's family group is so important."

"Right, we learned all this when Lenny went rogue," Gibbs said. "So if this never happens, why is this incident the second one in less than a year?"

"I don't know," Noah admitted. His expression told Gibbs there was much more to the story.

"Does Sullivan know this werewolf?" Gibbs asked.

"Oh yes," Noah said, his eyes full of pain and remorse.

"What? Spit it out, Diamond," Gibbs said, his frustration rising to the surface.

"The werewolf who did this," Noah began, "WAS Maggie."

"Well, that's impossible," Gibbs refused to hear him.

"I think so, too, but Malcolm has never been wrong," Noah said quietly.

"Someone did something," Gibbs said. "Either Malcolm has misidentified the wolf, or another is disguising himself as Maggie, or something. There's just no way," he said, slamming his fist into the wall of the elevator.

---

"I've succeeded in isolating some saliva from the victims. I should have a DNA match soon, if the person's information is on file," Abby explained to Maggie as she continued to review the evidence. Her machine made a sound, indicating a match had been found. "Ta da!" she said as she turned toward the monitor. "Our perpetrator is…" her voice trailed off into a stunned silence. "Oh God, not again," she said.

"What is it?' Maggie asked.

"Forensics is failing me again," Abby complained.

"Abby, will you please calm down and tell me what's going on?"

"According to the evidence, the person who killed these women is an employee here at NCIS," Abby said softly.

"Are you serious?" Maggie asked.

"Maggie, it's you," Abby said, slowly raising her eyes to meet Maggie's.

"What?!" Maggie asked in shock. "That's impossible."


	37. Chapter 37

Chapter 37

Gibbs mentally ran through the events of the last evening, night and morning. He knew for a fact Maggie couldn't have been involved. But someone was doing a heck of a frame-up job. He knew he had to get to the bottom of it before the high-profile case was taken out of his hands. He quickly made his way to autopsy.

"Time of death, Duck?" he asked shortly, his eyes reflecting the intensity of the situation.

"Sometime between 23:00 hours last night and 01:00 this morning," Ducky stated definitively. He could sense Jethro's mood and cut directly to the answers with no embellishment. "It appears the bodies were mauled by some sort of animal, Jethro," he began to explain. "The missing parts could, in fact, have been ingested by the creature."

"You're the second person who has presented that theory," Gibbs said. "Duck, we need to be sure. Test and then retest everything. Look at every possible angle. Find out if it could have been faked somehow. Look at what sorts of animals could be responsible for this kind of damage. I want multiple scenarios," he ordered as he walked out of the room. "ASAP, Duck!" Ducky heard his voice echoing as Gibbs left.

---

"Abs, whaddya got?" Gibbs asked as he walked into the forensics lab. The looks on hers and Maggie's faces made him wince. "What?"

"Gibbs, I don't know how, but the DNA I pulled from the saliva on the wounds of the victims was a perfect match to Maggie's DNA," Abby explained quickly. "I know she didn't do it, boss," she added. "I just have to dig deeper."

"You got that right," he confirmed. "Find out who's really done this, Abby." He turned to Maggie. "Let's go upstairs, Sullivan," he said as he took her by the arm. He led her onto the elevator and pressed the button. He hit the elevator stop switch and turned to Maggie.

"Jethro, I swear…" she began.

"Maggie, shhh…" he said, turning her to face him. "I know you didn't have anything to do with this. I'm your alibi, remember? And even if I hadn't been with you last night, I know there is no way…"

She interrupted him by pressing her lips to his. Grasping her arms in his hands, he pulled her roughly to him and deepened the kiss. She sighed as he pulled away.

"Thank you for believing in me," she said quietly. He smiled and started the elevator. He gave her a sideways look.

"Jeff?" he said scornfully.

"It was the best I could do under the circumstances," she said with a giggle.

"I hate that name," he admitted.

"So do I," she agreed. "How did you…?"

"I always know," he smirked. She laughed, and then quickly schooled her features as the elevator doors opened.

---

Gibbs led her through the bullpen toward the interrogation room. The entire team followed, clearly going to the observation area to watch Gibbs question her.

"Agent Gibbs," Director Shepard approached quickly, leading a man familiar to Maggie. "This is Director Murphy of NPID. They are going to be working with us on the investigation," she added with a look in her eye that dared him to challenge her authority. He didn't.

"Director Murphy," Gibbs greeted him, as he shook his hand firmly.

"Nice to see you again, Director," Maggie said with a smile. "I'm sorry it couldn't be under better circumstances."

"Not your fault," he said with a reassuring smile. He gave her shoulder a squeeze. "Don't worry; we'll get to the bottom of this. If all else fails, we can have Noah retrieve an exact account of the past 24 hours from your memory."

"I doubt that will be necessary," Gibbs interrupted. "I'd like to allow Agent Sullivan to retain as much dignity as possible through this investigation. I would hate for her most private thoughts to be on display to her coworkers."

Jenny gave him a big smile. "I agree," she said. "We should handle this as privately as possible." She led them into the interrogation area.

---

Gibbs sat down across from Maggie at the table in the interrogation room. She could hardly believe they were here, under these circumstances, playing this out. It was unimaginable. She met his gaze confidently, and prepared herself for his interrogation.

"Agent Sullivan, I'm going to have to ask you some difficult questions. I need you to answer me directly and honestly. Are we clear?" Gibbs began.

"Of course," she responded.

He proceeded grilling her with questions about werewolves and their habits and customs, particularly hers. She kept her answers brief and to the point, not giving any room for misinterpretation.

"Where were you between 11:00 hours last night and 01:00 this morning?" he asked her pointedly.

"I was home," she answered sincerely.

"Alone?" he asked.

"No," she answered with a cryptic smile.

"Care to elaborate, Sullivan?" he asked.

"I was with a friend," she answered simply.

"Does this friend have a name?" he asked.

"Of course," she answered with a smile. "Everyone has a name." He smiled, remembering a prior conversation that had gone similarly.

"Agent Sullivan," Gibbs began, "I understand your need for privacy and how uncomfortable it might be for you to give us this information knowing everyone you work with is on the other side of that glass. But you need to swallow your pride. It's not worth your life."

She met his gaze unwaveringly and then responded, "I won't tell you."

He smiled. "Yes you will," he told her. "You don't have to tell everyone, but you will tell Directors Shepard and Murphy and myself privately, understood?"

"Yes sir," she said. "Is that all?"

"That's it for now," he said. "Let's go," he took her by the arm, again. Directors Shepard and Murphy met them in the hall. "Your office, Director?" Gibbs questioned.

"Of course," she said, taking the lead.


	38. Chapter 38

Chapter 38

Before they reached the Director's office, Gibbs turned to the others.

"When we come out, I want the identity of the third victim, as well as the man who was seen leaving the bar with the girls. I want him in here for questioning," he barked, and then turned to escort Maggie into Director Shepard's office.

---

As soon as the door had closed behind them, Gibbs turned and locked it.

"Was that really necessary?" Jenny asked.

Gibbs gave her a look that squelched her questions. He turned to Maggie, "Are you okay?" he asked with genuine concern in his voice. "I'm sorry…"

She smiled, "I'm fine; you were great."

Shepard and Murphy looked from one to the other, and then Murphy's face broke into a smile.

"What?" Jenny asked. "I don't understand…"

"Jen, Maggie didn't do this," Gibbs said with conviction.

"Well, I don't believe she did either, Jethro, but we have to…"

"No, Jen, I'm saying I KNOW she didn't do this," he interrupted her. "I was with Agent Sullivan last night during the time of death."

"Oh," she said, still confused. "When you say 'with', what exactly are you implying?"

Maggie began to speak, softly but with confidence, "Director Shepard, we never intended this to come out like this and would like to keep it under wraps. Jethro and I have been seeing one another romantically for a few weeks now."

"I spent the entire weekend at her house, Jen. I know she didn't go anywhere last night," Gibbs defended.

"But how do you know she didn't leave and come back," Jenny questioned.

"Because we weren't exactly sleeping," Gibbs said in a way that implied she should have figured it out. Both Maggie and Director Shepard had the grace to blush. Gibbs didn't waver.

"So you were 'together' for the entire window of time, Jethro?" Jenny asked, her cheeks darkening even further.

"Yes," they answered in unison, Maggie's cheeks flaming to match the Director's.

The door knob rattled as someone attempted to open the locked door, at the same time Director Shepard's phone buzzed. "Yes, Cynthia?" she responded.

"Morgan McMann is here to see you," she informed her in her most professional tone.

"Thank you, Cynthia," she answered. "Tell him we'll be with him in a moment."

"Yes, ma'am," Cynthia said disconnecting.

Jenny gave Jethro a look of approval, "I now see why you locked the door."

"Jen, I don't want any fabricated evidence of her alleged involvement in this to get out. I promise you we will find out what really happened here," Gibbs said.

Director Murphy nodded his head. "Because of the nature of the crime, all other government agencies have been kept out of the loop on this one. We have already classified the entire investigation. Since I'm sure the press will have a field day once they get wind of it, we need to make up a temporary cover story to lead with while we work out the particulars. If you like, I can take the lead with the press, and you can continue working the investigation. I trust Agent Sullivan implicitly."

"Works for me," Gibbs said, shaking Murphy's hand again. "Maggie and I will get back to work and leave you to McMann."

Jenny nodded in approval as Gibbs and Sullivan headed back to the bullpen.

---

"Okay, people, make me proud," Gibbs said as he entered the bullpen.

Immediately, everyone began talking at once, including Abby who had come upstairs to wait for Gibbs.

He held up his hand. "Let's try this again; Abby?" he asked.

"Thank you," she said, happy to get to go first. "I have two things. First, the third victim is Aimee Rega. We aren't sure how she, Seaman Jones and Sophie McMann were connected. And!" she continued before he could start talking. "I ran the saliva samples taken from the victims again. It still shows as matching Agent Sullivan, but the percentage match is different. I did some further testing, and the composition of the saliva is changing, Gibbs. I think someone altered a substance to disguise it as her saliva and planted it on the victims."

He kissed her hard on the cheek. "What else?" he asked.

"Um, that's it for me," she said with a wince. "I'm sorry."

"Get back to the lab. Find out what that substance is and how it got there," he said, smacking her on the rear. She squealed.

"Gibbs!" she squeaked as she ran for the elevator.

"Okay, Tony," Gibbs turned his attention to Agent DiNozzo.

"Ziva and Noah are out searching for our mystery man even as we speak," Tony said.

"That's it?" Gibbs was disappointed.

""No, Boss," McGee answered. "I was able to pull up a clear image of the man from footage taken from one of The Cheshire Cat's surveillance video cameras. Abby's computer is doing a facial recognition search right now. She also contacted Noah telepathically and allowed him to see the man's picture through her eyes. He and Ziva are no longer running blind, although Noah does not recognize the man. He is not a vampire or one of the werewolves with which he is acquainted."

"How long?" Gibbs asked shortly.

"Any time now, Boss," he answered. When he realized he was finished asking questions, he made his way to the elevator. "I'll go check on that."

"You do that, McGee," Gibbs said, shaking his head.

"Tony, we need the connection between these girls, and now," he commanded as he stalked toward the elevator. "Morgan McMann is in with the Director and Murphy right now. They are fabricating a story of sort to explain things away until we figure them out. None of the information implicating Sullivan is to get out. None of it," he said firmly.

"You got it, Boss," he answered, remember how much stress the team was under when it was him being framed.

"Boss?" Maggie asked before he disappeared. "Can I do anything at all?"

"Stay out of the way," he said as he disappeared into the elevator.

---

"So, Roy Sanders…" Noah began.

"Can we not start?" Ziva asked. "Why do you insist on batting me?"

He smiled. "It's baiting," he corrected her. "And I do it because it's fun. I want you, Ziva," he said as he watched her intently. He could hear the change in her heartbeat when he said the words. He smiled seductively.

"You said you would back off," Ziva reminded him.

"That was when you weren't seeing anyone else. I can't afford to back off now."

"The way I see it, it won't be fair until I have sex with Roy. Then I will be equally tempted by the both of you, and my choice won't be blamed on your… abilities."

Noah threw back his head and laughed, making her look at him with an expression of both confusion and annoyance on her face. He met her gaze and his features softened. "Having sex with Sanders will make you feel tied to him and want him physically for the rest of your life," he admitted. "But it will never make you want him as much as you want me."

"That's what I'm afraid of," Ziva mumbled under her breath.


	39. Chapter 39

Chapter 39

Maggie stared at the computer screen. She wanted to pick up her monitor and throw it out the window. Jethro wouldn't let her help with the investigation, of course. She could understand his position. But it wasn't easy to keep out of something that your life depended on the outcome of. So she was researching everything she could. She had contacted everyone she knew, and was calling in every favor owed her.

No one seemed to know of anyone who had the ability to pull off this kind of set up, let alone a motive. At one time her list of people who would do this to her actually contained a name or two, but they were all dead. She was literally shocked to be experiencing this.

She focused and listened in on the conversation going on in the Director's office with Shepard, Murphy and McMann. She smiled as she listened to Thom smooth things over. It didn't matter that Morgan McMann was one of the most famous actors in Hollywood, or that Jenny was a personal friend of his, Thom had taken the lead and succeeded in spinning a plausible scenario in which her name was not even mentioned.

Gibbs, Shepard and Murphy were all sticking their necks out for her. She couldn't let them down. She needed to find out what was going on. 'Jethro only told me to stay out of the way,' she thought to herself. 'He didn't say anything about staying here.' She grabbed her bag and headed to the elevator. She was going to get to the bottom of this, even if she had to do it herself.

---

"What do you have, Abs?" Gibbs said, handing her a Caf-Pow!

"Good news," she answered. "How much to you love me?" she asked.

"More than you know, but I'll still fire you if you don't tell me what you have for me," he said sternly.

"Wow," she responded softly. "You really mean that." Her face took on a sincerely wounded expression.

"Abs!" he barked.

"I am going to forgive you for that because after I tell you this, you will never even imagine firing me ever as long as you live, Gibbs," Abby said as she turned to face him, still looking like an abused puppy.

His expression softened as he realized what he was doing. "Abs, I'm sorry, we just need…"

"No apology necessary," she said. "Now, let me tell you my news!" Her face instantly perked into the expression that he most liked to see on her face.

He motioned toward her with his arm.

"We got a match on our missing clubber. His name is Gideon Anderson. I've sent all the information on him through to Noah. He and Ziva are hunting him down as we speak. And," she continued, "The saliva samples have continued to mutate, and are now no longer even close to a match with Maggie. Unfortunately, we don't know what they are a match for, yet, but I'm working on it."

"Where's McGee?" he asked, knowing he had sent him to the lab to help her.

"He left with Tony," she said. "Something about a diner and a woman named Matilda and…"

"Abby…" Gibbs interrupted.

"I'm sorry!" she interrupted back. "I don't know where they went. I know it's about trying to find a link between the victims."

"Thank you Abby," Gibbs said as he quickly left. He wanted to check in upstairs with Maggie before calling the others for updates.

---

Gibbs walked off the elevator and into the bullpen which, although busy, contained none of his team members. He grabbed his phone and contacted first Ziva, and then Tony.

"It's me, whaddya' got?" he asked Ziva.

"Anderson didn't show up for work this morning, and no one can account for his whereabouts," she reported. "His boss says he's a loner, and isn't close with anyone here. We are on our way to his home address," she continued.

"Keep me informed," he said as he disconnected the line.

---

"Where are you?" Gibbs demanded of Tony when he answered the line.

"We are making your day, Boss," he responded in an upbeat tone.

"How, exactly, DiNozzo?" he asked shortly.

"The three suspects were all clients of Anderson," Tony explained.

"I thought he worked in a secluded office?" Gibbs asked in confusion, knowing David and Diamond had just left his place of employment.

"Yeah, from 9 to 5 he does," Tony continued. "But he has an evening job. It appears our clubber is a massage therapist. And a pricey one, I might add. McMann was linked to the salon where he works by a tabloid magazine. Apparently the salon's business has increased tenfold since the article came out. Seaman Jones has been going there since she was transferred to Anacostia. Aimee Rega is a salsa dancer and instructor. She has been going to this salon for the past six years. The three victims probably met at the salon, and…"

"Probably?" Gibbs asked.

"It's a link," DiNozzo reminded him.

"You and McGee…" Gibbs began.

"On it boss," Tony interrupted him. "We are pulling in to the salon parking lot right now."

"Good work," he responded as he disconnected. Now he had to find Maggie.

---

"Ducky, is Sullivan with you?" Gibbs asked Dr. Mallard over the phone.

"I haven't seen her, Jethro," he responded. "I…" Gibbs had disconnected. Ducky shook his head and continued working.

---

After checking every possible room, the gym, calling her cell phone and her home phone, Gibbs realized Maggie was definitely off the radar. He couldn't figure out why she wouldn't answer her cell at a time like this. Unless… Unless she had left her clothes somewhere and gone furry. Darn it! He knew she had been frustrated at not being able to help. Surely if she had a lead, she would have told him instead of running off by herself. Or not. He remembered how his other team members had reacted when they were the objects of frame-ups. But he knew Maggie better than anyone. And he needed to find her before whatever trouble she was in this time found her first. He raced to the stairwell, not willing to wait for the elevator. If she didn't stop getting into trouble, he was going to kill her himself.

---

Maggie stepped out of the shower and began to towel off. When they received their emergency page that morning, she hadn't yet gotten the privilege. She took the time when she couldn't help with the investigation to come home and think. She was feeling much more clear-headed. She had figured out that there was no one with a grudge against her. If she had been targeted, it had to be because of her connection to someone who cared for her. She mentally went through the list. Gibbs – no one knew about that, so no. Noah – a lot of people knew he had feelings for her at one time, especially in his world. It was a definite possibility. Jaime, Morgan or another werewolf – they did have a few enemies, but none that would do this. Matthew – she didn't think he had any enemies, and he was dead so targeting her for him would do no good. Evan – it was possible, but she doubted he even spoke of her. She certainly hadn't seen him in a lot of years.

---

Her thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of her cell phone. She looked at the screen and smiled. It was Jethro. "Sullivan," she answered professionally, in case he wasn't alone.

"Maggie? Thank God! Where are you?" he asked frantically.

"You asked me to stay out of the way. I wasn't getting anything done there, so I came home to think," she explained, still not understanding to what degree he was upset.

"And not answering your phone?" he asked.

"I was in the shower," she explained.

"Well, I'm here now, so you better let me in," he replied.


	40. Chapter 40

Chapter 40

Maggie pulled her robe around her, wrapped her wet hair in a towel and then went to open the door.

"Hey there," she said with a smile.

He pushed inside quickly and shut the door behind him. After locking the door he pulled her into his arms. His kiss was fierce as he pressed her against the door.

"I hate that you have to do this, and I hate I can't make it go away," he said softly, in an almost threatening tone. "But if you disappear like that again…" She interrupted him by leaning back into him for another kiss. "I threatened to fire Abby," he said.

"Wow, that's extreme," Maggie said seriously.

"I apologized," he said softly.

"You said you were sorry?" Maggie asked incredulously.

"Yes, I just… I needed to know you were okay, and I hate this," he said in frustration.

"I'm fine," she said, laying a hand on his cheek. "But we need to talk." She led him into her bathroom. He took a seat on the edge of the bathtub and listened as she washed her face, dried her hair and dressed. "I have thought this through from every angle, and I don't think I'm the target. Let me explain," she said before he could interrupt. "There just aren't enough people in the world who intend me harm," she reasoned.

"You're complaining?" he asked.

"No," she admitted. "I think the target is NPID and Murphy or Noah. It's the only thing that makes any sense to me. It can't be NCIS – I haven't been here long enough. It can't be you because no one knows about us. It has to be Noah or Murphy or a past NPID case."

"That makes sense," he agreed. "Why Noah?"

"Well, he's had this thing for me for a while, and the whole vampire world is aware of it. His companions resent me. But none of them would dare harm me," she said. "But if he had an enemy, or a vampire trying to challenge his authority, they wouldn't hesitate to set me up."

"I'll check it out," he said. "You ready?"

"Good to go," she answered with a smile.

"I'll give you a ride back to NCIS," he said as he led her out to his car.

---

"Gibbs," he said into his phone after it rang.

"Boss, Ziva and I apprehended Anderson and are on our way to interrogation," Noah said.

"On the way," Gibbs replied as he hung up the phone. He proceeded to nearly break land speed records making his way to the office.

---

"You didn't tell him," Ziva said, punching Noah on the arm.

"He didn't give me a chance, Ziva," Noah protested. "I'll tell him when he gets here."

"Would you two stop flirting and get to work," Tony said.

"I wasn't flirting with him, Tony," Ziva answered loudly.

"Don't take it out on me," Tony said, raising his hands as if to say he was out of the fight. "Unless you're sexually frustrated. You can take that out on me anytime," he added, wagging his eyebrows at her.

"You couldn't handle me, Tony," Ziva teased him.

"I can handle a lot more than you give me credit for, Zee-vah," Tony replied.

"I give you more credit than you realize, Tony," Ziva retorted seriously.

"Oh really," Tony said flirtatiously.

"Can we get back on this before Gibbs gets here?" Noah interrupted, annoyed.

"That sounds like a good idea to me," Gibbs said as he and Sullivan stepped off the elevator.

"Boss, we have some news before you interrogate Anderson," DiNozzo said. When no one spoke, he continued, "Anderson is a werewolf."

"I didn't recognize his photo," Maggie began. "I can't believe…" her voice trailed off in confusion.

"Also," Ziva added, "Abby was able to match the saliva samples to Anderson, once they stopped mutating. He is definitely our guy."

"Maggie; Noah; you interrogate," Gibbs said as they made their way down the hall, causing the others to look on in confusion.

"Boss, are you alright?" Tony asked.

"Just peachy, DiNozzo," he replied sarcastically. "One of our team is being framed for a vicious multiple homicide – again. Couldn't be better."

"It's just that you told Abby you were sorry and now you're letting one suspect interrogate another," he began.

"Sullivan is no longer a suspect," he barked. "As far as I'm concerned, she never was. Let's get on with this." When the others were all in position, Gibbs left the room and went to Director Shepard's office, where he opened the door and entered without knocking or announcing his presence.

"What can we do for you, Jethro?" Jen said with a grin. Apparently Murphy had given her advance warning of Gibbs' interruption.

"Ziva and Noah have brought in our perpetrator. Abby has matched his DNA to the saliva samples from the incident. He knew each of the victims previously, and was seen leaving The Cheshire Cat with them last night," Gibbs turned to Murphy. "He's a werewolf."

"On our way," Murphy said as he rose from him chair. They made their way to watch the interrogation.

"I see he sent in his flunkies to question me," Anderson scoffed.

"Agent Gibbs can…" Noah began, but was interrupted.

"I'm not talking about Agent Gibbs, moron," Anderson said rudely. Noah sifted through the thoughts pouring from the man. "Get Murphy in here," he said. Noah motioned toward the door and he and Maggie exited quickly.

Murphy shook his head, pain in his eyes. "I will not play his game, Agent Gibbs," he explained.

Noah briefed the others, "Anderson harbors a lot of anger and bitterness toward Murphy due to some past experiences. He has been planning this for about seven years; since the death of his mother, for which he blames Murphy," Noah explained.

"He's my son," Murphy said softly, voicing the one thing Noah hadn't said out loud.

---

Gibbs entered interrogation, an expression on his face that caused Anderson to feel a fear he hadn't felt from a normal human in a number of years. Without asking another question, Gibbs placed the man under arrest. He pushed him against the wall as he cuffed him. "The next time you decide you have a score to settle with your father, mess with someone else's team," he said gruffly.

"I want to speak with my father," Anderson said gruffly.

"Too bad," Gibbs answered, as he handed Anderson over to the NPID without argument. Tony gave him a strange look. "What, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked.

"You're just going to let them have him?" he asked in return.

"Yep," Gibbs said with a smile, knowing what NPID would do to him.


	41. Chapter 41

Chapter 41

"Give it back," McGee threatened, holding the water hose toward Abby like a weapon. She laughed deep in the back of her throat.

"I don't think so," she said sexily.

"Don't say I didn't warn you," he said as he sprayed her full blast with the icy cold water. She squealed and ran, as he gave chase.

"Timmy!" she squealed as she tripped and fell.

"Abby, are you okay?" he said as he rushed to her side. She was curled up in a ball and trembling. "Abby?" he asked softly, touching her shoulder. She rolled over and he saw that she was laughing nearly uncontrollably.

"Tim, they're gonna be here any minute and now I have to change," she got out between gasps for breath.

"Did you hurt yourself?" he asked, still concerned in spite of her laugher.

"No, genius, the fall was staged to get you to stop!" she giggled.

"You don't have to change," Tim said as he pulled her into a sitting position in the grass. "You look great."

"Yeah, for a wet T-shirt contest maybe," she protested, motioning toward her now-soaked blouse.

"Exactly, you look GREAT," he said, his pupils dilating. He pulled her closer to him and kissed her passionately. She pushed him away from her and rose quickly to her feet.

"No time for that, McGee!" she shouted over her shoulder as she ran inside to change.

"Too bad," he said to himself. It then dawned on him the Abby still had the letters he was trying to get from her. No wonder she had laughed so hard. He had completely forgotten the reason he was after her to begin with. When it came to distracting him, no one was more adept than Abigail Scuito.

"Abby!" he shouted as he ran inside. He could hear her laughing.

"Tim, we have a bigger problem," she told him.

"What's that?" he asked.

"I can't wear any of Maggie's clothes," she said as she opened to door to let him into the room with her. He laughed when he saw her. She had selected the largest blouse she could find in Maggie's room. The shirt was pink, and was supposed to be oversized and off the shoulder. It fit Abby very snugly, and exposed her navel. She had kept her wet skirt on when she saw her options. Maggie was nearly a foot shorter than Abby, and very petite and tiny, like a dancer.

"You look like Maggie looked that day she had to wear that little girl's clothes into the office," McGee said with a chuckle.

"You probably liked it," Abby said with a teasing glare. "Especially considering your penchant for tonguing ten-year-olds," she added, sticking out her tongue at him.

"You tongued a ten-year-old, Probie?" Tony asked as he entered the hallway.

"No, she was sixteen, and she tongued me!" he protested, making Abby laugh out loud.

"All you had to do was deny it, Tim," Tony said. "I wouldn't have believed it." He then saw Abby's blouse. "Wow, Abs," he said with a leer. "Lookin' good."

She rolled her eyes. "I don't think so," she disagreed.

"Where's our hostess?" Tony asked as he made his way back down the hall.

"She had me come over early to help her with some stuff, and then had to run some errands. I got lonely; enter Tim," she explained.

"Does she know you two have been playing dress up in her bedroom?" Tony asked, wagging his eyebrows.

"Trust me, as soon as my shirt dries I'm changing, Tony," she said with a sideways look.

"You look good in pink, Abs," he added.

"Shut up, Tony," she remarked

---

Maggie gathered her things and made her way toward the door. She smiled as she listened to everyone inside. "Is this a private gathering, or can anyone join?" she asked as she pushed the door open. Tony rushed to take some items from her arms and into the kitchen. "Thanks, Tony," she said with a smile.

"Um, Maggie…" Tim began. "I sort of sprayed Abby with your water hose, and now…" He stepped aside to make room for Abby to enter the kitchen. Maggie burst into laughter.

"I'm sorry, Abs," she apologized.

"Oh, laugh it up, Mags," Abby teased her. "My shirt is almost dry," she added softly. Maggie hugged her.

"I think I can find something better suited for you, if you'd like," Maggie offered.

"That's okay. This is kind of cute," Abby confessed.

Maggie winked at McGee and walked past him into the living room.

"Nice place," Tony said when she joined him. She gave him a long look.

"Tony's got a se-cret," she said in a sing-song voice.

"What?" he asked, looking a little paranoid.

"I'm a werewolf, Tony," she gave him a direct gaze. "Think about it." At his empty look she leaned in closer to him. "I not only know how you spent your morning, but with whom," she said simply. Tony's face flared red.

"How can you…?"

"My sense of smell," she reminded him. "I can smell when you are afraid, when you feel threatened, when you are aroused, when you are angry, when you are lying… it's very useful sometimes," she smiled at him.

"Wow," Tony said. "I knew you were good, but I didn't know you were THAT good," he admitted.

"Oh, she's THAT good," Noah said suggestively, as he entered the room.

"Like you would know," Maggie countered.

"Only in my dreams," he sighed.

"I can arrange that, you know," Abby joined the conversation.

"You wouldn't dare," Maggie threatened, causing Abby to laugh.

"You're right, I wouldn't," she replied.

"Although you did offer to loan me Tim," Maggie reminded her.

Abby punched her in the arm. "Maggie!" she protested.

Tim looked from one lady to the other. "You offered what?" McGee asked, blushing.

Abby interrupted Maggie before she could say anything. "Nothing important, sweetie," Abby said, moving to sit on the edge of the chair beside him. He gave her a look that said she would tell him later.

Maggie rose to answer the door when the bell rang. She opened it to find that Gibbs and Director Shepard had come together. "Come on in," she said with a smile. Gibbs gave a clandestine wink for her eyes only.

"Hail, hail, the gang's all here," Jenny said as she entered the living room. "Well, almost," she amended. "Where are Ziva and Ducky?" She took a seat on the couch on the other side of Maggie. Maggie winked at Tony, and then rose from her seat.

"I'll see if I can get in touch with them," she said as she moved toward the kitchen. "Can I get anyone anything while I'm up? I have coffee, beer, bourbon and coke, and water," she offered.

"I'll have a beer," Gibbs said. "For now," he added as he took a seat next to Jenny forcing her to move closer to Tony. Maggie chuckled.

"Anyone else?" She made a mental note of everyone's requests and moved into the kitchen.

---

"Thanks for breakfast," Ziva told Roy with a smile.

"Thanks for the workout," he countered with a mischievous grin.

"My pleasure," she added with an intense look. She still couldn't believe she opted to go ahead and sleep with Roy, even though she knew it would make choosing between him and Noah that much more difficult. "Look, I have a barbecue at a coworker's house to go to today…" she began.

"I could go with you," he offered.

"Well, the other person I've been seeing will be there, and I don't know how that would go," she warned him.

"I promise I'll be good," he said with a wicked look.

"I'm sure," she replied. "If you promise to be good, you can go. Just try to keep yourself in chick."

"Check," he corrected.

"Whatever," she said as they walked out to his car.

---

Ducky arrived just before Palmer and Lee pulled up. Everyone had moved to the backyard to eat when Ziva and Roy finally arrived. Maggie answered the doorbell with a smile. "Ziva, come on in," she said as she ushered them inside.

"This is Roy Sanders," Ziva introduced her date. "This is Maggie Sullivan."

"Nice to meet you," Roy gave her a knowing look.

"Has he met…?" Maggie began, but stopped when she noticed Ziva's expression.

"Not yet," she said with a strained smile.

"This should be fun," Maggie said under her breath and she led them through the house to the backyard.

---

Noah froze as he watched Ziva make her way outside. She looked amazing, in his opinion. His mouth turned up in a smile as she approached him, and their eyes met. "Noah," she said softly. "Nice to see you."

"And you as well," he responded.

Ziva's smile quickly changed when her date suddenly fell to the ground.

"Roy, are you okay?" she asked him frantically. "Someone call 911!" she shouted.

"He's okay," Noah interrupted. "He's pledging his loyalty," he explained, as Roy rose from his face to his knees, kneeling at Noah's feet. They could hear him mumbling something under his breath. "You may rise," Noah said authoritatively.

"Yes, master..." Roy responded. Ziva gave them both a disgusted look and walked quickly away.

"Vampires!" she said to no one particular.


	42. Chapter 42

**Chapter 42**

"What's he doing here?" Tony asked. When no one responded, he looked around for clarification. "Roy's alive??"

"More like 'undead'," Abby corrected.

"Why is he bowing down to Agent Diamond?" he continued, confused.

"Vampire politics," Maggie answered. "He's never met Noah before, and since he's one of his line, he has to pledge his loyalty to Noah. But even if they had met before, he would have to bow," she explained. "It's kind of the equivalent of saluting a superior officer, only more dramatic."

"Cool," Tony said, almost envious.

"Dramatic is right," Ziva said. "I didn't know he would do this or I never would have allowed him to come."

"Ziva," Noah began as he walked toward her. "I knew about Roy, but I never intended for him to know about me. I wouldn't have tipped the scales that way. Who you choose will be your decision," he said sincerely.

"Not anymore," Ziva said as she noticed Roy withdrawing from her.

"I'm sorry, Ziva," Roy said. "I won't compete with him," he explained.

"I'm not asking you to fight him, Roy, I'm asking you to let me date you both and make my own decision," Ziva half-shouted.

"I can't do that," Roy said sadly as he made his way toward the gate. "Thank you for inviting me," he added as he disappeared into Maggie's side yard.

Ziva slapped Noah, "I hate you!" she shouted.

"No you don't," he smirked, completely unaffected by her outburst.

"Well, that was quite a show," Gibbs interrupted. "I thought I had a complicated love life, Ziva, but I think you win."

"You have a love life, boss?" McGee asked.

Gibbs gave him a look that questioned his intelligence. "I've been married four times, Tim, of course I do," he said cryptically.

Jenny gave him a smile that spoke volumes. Of course, most of them assumed she was alluding to a private relationship between the two of them.

"Speaking of love lives, where's Jeff?" Noah teased Maggie.

"I won't even tell you his last name or what he does for a living because I don't want him to have any contact with you. Why would I invite him here while you're here?" Maggie asked, as if she were explaining to a fifth grader. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go answer the door."

"Did the bell ring?" Tim asked.

"No, but there is a car pulling up in the driveway, so it's only a matter of time," Maggie said with a smile.

"I don't think I'll ever get used to that," Tony said as Maggie disappeared inside.

"She's full of surprises," Abby said as she followed Maggie. She stopped just before she ducked inside, "I think my shirt is probably dry." Her smile made everyone laugh.

---

"Maggie," Abby half whispered once they were inside.

"Yeah?" Maggie said, turning to face her friend.

"Surely you don't mind if I meet Jeff… I mean, we're friends, right?" she asked.

"Of course we are, Abs! I promise that when I'm ready, I'll tell you first," Maggie said with a sly smile.

"So secretive," Abby commented. "I like it," she added with a wink.

They were interrupted by the ringing of the doorbell.

"Right on cue," Maggie said as she opened the door. An attractive young man in a uniform bearing the name of a local florist was standing on Maggie's doorstep. In his arms was one of the most exquisite flower arrangements she had ever seen. White Casablanca lilies were paired with pink, red and purple Plumeria. Maggie closed her eyes and allowed the amazing fragrance to overwhelm her.

"Read the card!" Abby said excitedly.

"Happy Birthday; Love, Jeff," she read. "PS – you thought I didn't know?"

Maggie chuckled.

"That's sweet," Abby said. She looked at Maggie for a moment. "You really like this guy."

"I do," Maggie confirmed as she set her flowers down on the dining room table where the afternoon sun was spilling through the windows. The warmth of the sun immediately caught the scent of the flowers, and it began spreading throughout the house. "Now go change, so we can get out there before something crazy happens."

At Abby's upraised eyebrow, Maggie amended her statement. "Something else crazy," she added, as Abby ran off to change her blouse.

"I have something for you, too," Abby said from the bedroom. She didn't bother to speak loudly. She knew Maggie could hear her. "Not that you deserve it, after what you told Tim," she said teasingly under her breath.

Maggie laughed out loud.

---

Maggie and Abby joined the others, Maggie carrying her flowers out to set on the patio table.

"Wow," Jenny said as she examined her delivery. "Those must have cost a pretty penny. Very nice," she winked at Maggie. "Happy Birthday," she said, handing Maggie a card.

"Oh, Jenny, thank you!" Maggie said as she opened the card, which contained a gift certificate for a spa day.

"You've earned it," Jenny said with a huge smile on her face.

"Thank you very much," Maggie hugged her tightly.

"My turn," Gibbs said as he handed Maggie a package. "Happy 114th," he said with a smirk, and then gave her an innocent kiss on the cheek.

"Thanks, Boss," she replied with a laugh. She opened her package to find a vintage replica of the kind of ship on which she first learned to sail. She squealed and gave him big hug, "It's perfect!"

"Um, Maggie, I didn't know it was your birthday," Tony apologized.

"Neither did I," Ziva admitted.

"Nor I, Miss Sullivan," Ducky added.

"I'm sorry guys, I thought you knew," Abby winced. "Anyhow, my turn!" she said to Maggie as she thrust a shiny black bag with a silver embossed skull and crossbones on the front. Maggie chuckled as she took the bag and pulled out a stuffed wolf. He was grey with white markings, and was wearing a black leather choker with metal spike studs on it, as well as military dog tags showing his name as "Death Puppy".

"Abby, he is so cute!" Maggie said excitedly as Abby took him back and began showing off all his features.

"I had all his jewelry custom made," she explained animatedly.

"Thank you, Abs, I love it," Maggie said.

"My turn," Tim said, handing Maggie his gift. "It's a pair of Joo Janta 200 Super-Chromatic Peril-Sensitive Sunglasses. They will provide a relaxed attitude toward danger. At the first sign of trouble they turn totally black, thus preventing you from seeing anything that might alarm you. Not recommended for driving, of course," he said.

"You're kidding, right?" she asked.

"Of course I'm kidding. Who besides Douglas Adams could come up with something like that? It's from 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'," he added. Maggie opened the package and, rather than what he described, found a pair of designer sunglasses that framed her face beautifully.

"Wow, Tim," she said, speechless. "They're beautiful."

"Abby helped," he admitted. "And, uh… 'tis the season and all that."

"Thank you," she said giving him a huge hug. "This was so nice. I planned for you to come here so I could treat you, and you brought gifts."  
"Wait, I have something," Noah interrupted, handing her a package. Inside was a gift certificate to an expensive, elegant downtown restaurant and some very naughty lingerie.

"Noah!" Maggie said, her face flushing red.

"What is it?" Tony asked.

"I'm not showing," Maggie insisted.

"I figure it will be a while before you actually let us meet Jeff, we may as well begin getting on his good side," he quipped.

"Well, that'll do it," Ducky said, just as Maggie realized he had pulled the ensemble out of the bag.

"Ducky!" Maggie whisper-shouted.

Everyone laughed.

"Nice," Gibbs said with a shrug. "Very hot."

Tim and Tony each also nodded in approval. Abby gave Maggie a wicked grin.

"I'm going inside," Maggie said as she gathered her things and walked toward the door.


	43. Chapter 43

Chapter 43

Maggie brought her flowers back in from outside with a smile. After eating as much as a pack of werewolves, her guests had finally left. She was happy they had come, but wished they had taken some of the many hints she had begun dropping about leaving. Eventually, she had to tell them point blank that she had plans with "Jeff" and needed to get ready.

She smiled when she remembered the gifts she had received. She hadn't told a soul that it was her birthday, but she should have known the information would get out. Tony had offered to help her break in her gift from Noah as his gift to her. She laughed at the memory. Tony was one of a kind. She could hardly believe he had sex with Director Shepard. Or rather, she could hardly believe Jenny had sex with him. She shook her head free of thought, but that didn't last long.

She was meeting Jethro at his place tonight. She smiled remembering his gifts. He was an incredible man. His gifts were so insightful and thoughtful. She looked at the lingerie Noah bought and blushed anew. She shook her head. Men could be so strange. She gave her house a quick once-over, deciding to wait until later to clean, and then went into her room to change clothes. The best part of her birthday celebration was yet to come.

---

Since Roy had left and Ziva was pissed at Noah, Tony escorted Ziva home.

"Thank you, Tony," she said with a smile.

"Rescuing hot women in distress is kind of a specialty of mine," he bragged.

She gave him a sideways look. "I was hardly in distress," she remarked.

"Well, I'm still glad I could be there for you," he said as they reached her place. She was surprised when he shut off the ignition and got out of the car.

"Tony, I don't need escorted to the door," Ziva assured him. "You were hoping for a nightgown?" she asked, cocking a single eyebrow.

"Nightcap," he corrected, "but that sounds good too," he added suggestively.

She laughed. "I have too many men in my life already."

"I'm not asking for your life," he flirted, giving her his best bedroom look.

She laughed again.

"You're not exactly helping the ego, Ziva," he added.

"Your ego needs no assistance, Tony," she smiled.

"Come on," he urged her. "You've always wanted me, and you know it."

She smiled. "Maybe," she admitted hesitantly. "One kiss, but outside," she acquiesced.

Tony's smile was slow and sure of himself. 'She will be mine, oh yes,' he quoted to himself. He pulled her slowly into his arms, lengthening the moment. He'd kissed her before, of course, but this time it was real – and he had an agenda. He hesitated just a moment before actually touching her mouth with his, making her tremble in anticipation. She could feel his lips smile under hers. He knew she wanted him, and she knew he knew. His kiss was somehow hard and gentle, urgent and slow, passionate and careless all at the same time. He maneuvered her skillfully toward the door, and pressed her against it. She could feel how much he wanted her; and somehow that was what brought her back to reality. As easily as he maneuvered her toward the door, she extracted herself from the kiss.

"Smooth, Tony," she said, her voice low and husky from the kiss. "But I'm still not inviting you inside."

"Not tonight, anyway," he amended.

With nothing left to say, she disappeared behind the door against which they were just leaning, and locked it behind her.

---

"Okay, spill it," Tim said to Abby as soon as they were "home". Tonight was his turn to play host.

"Spill what?" Abby played innocent.

"What kind of offer did you make Maggie regarding me?" he insisted, as if she didn't know to what he was referring.

"Okay, but you have to take it as a compliment," Abby said with a smile, coming to sit on his lap. She kissed each of his cheeks and cradled his head in her hands.

"Wow, this must be serious," he said.

"No, it's not. I just don't want you to take it wrong," Abby explained. "You see, one day a few months ago, not long after we started dating, I was bragging to Maggie about your… ummm… sexual expertise."  
McGee blushed and smiled at the same time. "Okay, you have my attention," he said.

"I was very insistent that she understand what I was talking about, so I told her she should just let you kiss her one time, to show her how adept you are in that area," she continued to explain. "Unfortunately, Gibbs overheard us and didn't look too kindly on our version of kiss and tell."

"Yikes," McGee said. "So…"

Abby hit him in the arm. "So, nothing," she said. "You weren't supposed to be interested, Tim! Anyhow," she continued with a sigh, "Maggie reminded me that in order for her to experience your mastery of all things sexual that I would have to share her with you, and I didn't like that idea very much."

"Aww, that's sweet," he said. "Now that you've brought up the subject, how about I exhibit some more of my sexual deftness," he suggested, wagging his eyebrows.

She gave him a throaty laugh. "I'd thought you'd never ask," she responded as he picked her up and carried her into the other room.


	44. Chapter 44

Chapter 44

"You must date her," Noah commanded. "That's not a request," he continued.

The power emanating from him was almost more than Roy could stand. If humans could sense the depth of power that a vampire could feel from one more powerful, Ziva would understand that standing up to Noah was not even in the realm of possibility. Vampires have an uncanny ability of being able to mentally feel the power of another. Older, more powerful vampires often so completely overwhelm newer vampires that they aren't able to even stand in their presence.

Roy shook his head negatively. "I don't think I can, sir," he said softly.

"If you don't, she will blame me and thus reject me, which is unacceptable."

"So you want me to give you competition and then let you win?" Roy asked, trying to understand.

"No, you have to try your hardest to win her. If you intentionally push her toward me she will know it, blame me and thus reject me, which is, as I stated previously, unacceptable," Noah replied.

"You are asking me to publicly place myself at odds with you," Roy clarified. "I don't think..."

"At my command," Noah interrupted. "You can, with no fear of retribution, regardless of her choice," he promised. "I will make sure your master and the others are aware of the situation. No harm will come to you for this."

"But I..." Roy protested.

"This is not about power struggle," Noah said softly, but confidently. "It's about matters of the heart. I'm afraid that in this battle we have a level playing field. I could use my authority to influence you, but I won't because I love Ziva."

Without another word Noah left the room, abandoning Roy to work everything out in his mind. He wouldn't let his position be the reason she pulled away.

---

Maggie leaned even closer to Jethro as he tightened his arms around her. As they had so many times, they were sitting on the swing in her backyard, swaying softly in the wind, the breeze granting a sweet reprieve to the sun's blaze.

Maggie smiled as she began to speak. Her voice had a far-away quality about it as she recalled the events of her past. "I told you about how Jaime broke my heart when I was young. What I didn't tell you was that I was really and truly broken. I loved him so much that I literally didn't think I could ever move past it," she said hollowly.

"Then I met Matthew. He was a sailor and he loved me more than the sea, which was quite a feat. We became the best of friends and were married for 38 years," she paused and collected her thoughts before continuing. "His death was difficult for me because of the pain of his loss, but mostly because I knew I never loved him the way he loved me. I had to confront my feelings for Jaime; and to examine my memories of him. I came to realize that there were negative things with the positive, and I had set a standard so high with my passion for him that I would never be happy in love. Once I did that, I was able to move on. I was able to say goodbye to what might have been, and to reach out with my whole heart," she turned in his embrace and kissed him deeply. "I think I'm falling for you, Boss," she said with a chuckle.

Gibbs stared down at the small woman sitting next to him and wasn't sure what he wanted to do next, until he heard the sound of his own voice break the silence. "My first wife, Shannon," he began to explain. Maggie could hear the smile in his voice. "She was lovely and perfect for the man I was then. We had a beautiful daughter, Kelly. I absolutely loved them more than anything. When they were taken from me, I didn't think I would ever love again. My next three marriages were all similar - I had developed a relationship with a woman that I really cared about and didn't want to lose. When things would progress to the point that I felt like she really needed more, we got married. But it was never the same. I realize now that I never loved any of them. Only Shannon."

"Wow, that's some pedestal you have built up there," Maggie said very softly as she rose from her place beside him and began pacing the porch. "I feel sorry for you, Jethro," she said sincerely. "You are an amazing man with a lot to offer. You just need to be honest with yourself..." She paused for a moment.

"Will you just let me talk?" he interrupted her as he came toward her. He grabbed her by the arms and pushed her forcibly, but gently, against the door. He held her there with his body pressed against hers. He leaned toward her, capturing her gaze with his eyes. "Please listen to me," he said clearly. "Yes, I loved Shannon. But I don't have her on a pedestal. I probably did at one time, but not anymore. I love you, Maggie. Madly, truly, deeply. If anything, I feel guilty because I love you as much as I do. What I feel for you is so intense, it's almost obsession." He relaxed his hands so that he wouldn't bruise her arms, and held her in place with his body alone. He began to absently stroke her hair with his hands, his eyes dark with passion and sincerity.

He continued, "If I've seemed withdrawn or distant lately it's not only because I don't want the team to know about us, but also because I've realized I could lose you. I don't like that feeling. Because you are it for me, Maggie. You are the woman I love - the woman who is perfect for the man I am today."

Without giving her a chance to respond, he crushed her mouth with his. Her mouth slanted under his and she moaned, shifting to better accommodate his advance. He picked her up and carried her to the bed, where he left her no doubt as to how he felt about her. They made love for hours, leaving no part untouched; nothing unloved. Afterward, she lay in his embrace, listening to his breathing and heart beat.

"I love you, too, Jethro," she said.

"I know," he replied.

She laughed.


	45. Chapter 45

Chapter 45

"Maggie I am so pumped that you get to spend the day with me," Abby said excitedly.

There were no new cases, and Gibbs had given Maggie permission to assist Abby with a special project she had been hoping to have enough time to complete.

"So here's the deal," Abby said as she began to explain how Maggie's part of the process would work. "I have everything tagged with either a blue, red, green, yellow or purple flaggie thingie. Enter each item into the system according to the list I've prepared, and I'll take it from there," Abby said with a smile.

"Okay," Maggie consented with a hesitant smile. "I can do that."

"It'll be fun!" Abby insisted. Her enthusiasm was contagious, and soon Abby's forensics lab sounded more like a slumber party than a work day. Loud music with an up-tempo, driving beat accompanied fingers flying across keys, girl talk and almost uncontrollable laughter. This was the scene that greeted Gibbs when he came down to check on them, carrying a Caf-Pow! and a coffee.

"I come bearing gifts!" he shouted over the music.

"Gibbs!" Abby exclaimed. "Thank you so much for letting Maggie help me today," she rushed over and gave him a big hug.

"The music, Abs!" Gibbs crinkled his brow in discomfort. Maggie turned the music down, and then crossed the room to join the other two. Gibbs handed her a cup of coffee.

"Thanks, Jethro," she said with a smile as he kissed her on the cheek.

Abby cocked an eyebrow.

"Abs?" he invited her to take the Caff-Pow!

"Why, thank you," Abby said, accepting both the oversized beverage and his kiss on her cheek. "What's up?" she asked.

"Some reason you don't want me here, Abs?" Gibbs asked.

"Of course, not," Abby said. "Although you should be willing to do anything I ask after what you said to me during the whole thing with Anderson last month," Abby turned away from him.

"You're never going to let me live that down," Gibbs smiled. "I couldn't fire you, Abs. It would take seven people to replace you, and you know it."

"I guess I'll let you off the hook," Abby teased. "After all, you did say you were sorry."

Gibbs grinned. "That I did," he added. He looked first at one girl, and then the other. "I'm gonna go check in with Ducky," he said. "Let me know if there's anything I can do to help with your project, Abs," he called as he walked out of the office.

Abby leveled Maggie a long, knowing look. "MmmHmmm…" she said.

"What?" Maggie asked.

"Since when do you call him Jethro?" she asked.

Maggie blushed. "Since we've been sleeping together for months," Maggie dropped the bombshell.

"What!?!" Abby was shocked. "No way," she shook her head in denial. "There is no way you've been knockin' boots with Gibbs since not long after you came to work here, without my knowledge. No way. I have a sense about these things," Abby continued. "If that were true, that would mean you're as good at lying as Gibbs is, and…" her voice trailed off as she continuing working things out in her mind. "But why would you say something like that if it weren't true? And what about Jeff? Wait…Jeff… Jethro…Oh my gosh, Maggie!" she shouted, hitting her in the arm. She then squealed and gave her a huge hug. "I'm so excited!"

"We want to keep it a secret for a little longer, but we decided to tell you first," Maggie said with a smile.

"So, is he any good?" Abby asked.

Maggie laughed. "What do you think?" Maggie countered.

"Trust me, you don't want to know what I think," Abby wagged her eyebrows. "And I have definitely thought about it. A girl would have to be dead not to have 'gone there' if you know what I mean," Abby finished on a sigh.

Maggie chuckled. "I know exactly what you mean," she agreed.

"So, is it serious?" Abby asked, and then immediately rushed on. "That's a long time for a casual affair."

"Yeah, it's the real deal," Maggie answered with a sigh.

"Wow," Abby's smile lit up the room. "It couldn't happen to two better people."

"Except you and Tim," Maggie interjected.

"Well, of course," she agreed with a grin.

---

"Just because you can't close the deal, doesn't mean it can't be closed," Ziva taunted Tony.

"Ahhh…" Tony shook his finger at her. "You said 'can't'. You should have said 'didn't'. I most definitely 'can'," he said flirtatiously as he approached her desk.

"Put it in your pants, DiNozzo, and grab your gear," Gibbs barked as he hung up the phone. "Reston 911 received a distress call from a marine wife last night. She claimed her dead husband abducted their son."

"Why are we just finding out?" Tony asked.

"Beats me, DiNozzo. But we're gonna find out. They're sending a copy of the call through. McGee; stay here, and get the recording to Abby as soon as it gets here. I want to know everything there is to know about this marine by the time we get back. Call with any pertinent info you get while we're questioning the wife. The rest of you are with me. Ziva, call Sullivan! Let's roll!"

Gibbs parked the car in front in the driveway of the Montgomery house, and Diamond pulled in behind him. Noah froze outside the door of the house, a bizarre expression on his face. The team halted, turning toward him for an explanation.

"What is it, Diamond?" Gibbs asked.

"The child was abducted six or seven hours ago by a vampire," he said softly, his head still turned slightly to the right as if focusing on something unseen.

"Maggie, check out the back to see if you can find his trail," Gibbs ordered. Maggie immediately began to make her way to the back of the house.

Callie Montgomery answered the door a perfect picture of grace under pressure.

"Ms. Montgomery?" Gibbs asked. At her nod, he continued, "Special Agents Gibbs, DiNozzo, Diamond, David," he introduced as they flashed their badges.

"Please come in," she welcomed them. "Have a seat," she motioned to the sofa and loveseat in the living room, as she sat in the wing chair.

"You don't mind if Agents DiNozzo and David look at your son's room while we talk?" Gibbs asked, as Tony and Ziva began making their way down the hall. "We'll need to treat the room as a crime scene, and take some photos and measurements."

"That's fine," she agreed. "Anything to help me find Brogan." Her voice broke as she pronounced her son's name, fresh tears moistening her eyes and running down her cheeks.

"Tell us about your late husband," Gibbs led her into some basic questions, from which they learned that her husband was Gunnery Sergeant Jonathan Montgomery. He had been reported killed in action in Iraq seven months prior. His body was recovered, but was identified by another soldier. Due to the condition of the body and the amount of time it took to transport him back to the states, she had not been allowed to see her husband's body. They would have celebrated their tenth wedding anniversary in November, if he had not been killed. When he was not deployed, Jonathan would spend time volunteering at the local homeless shelter. He had a heart for people, and would spend time with strangers – listening to their stories and providing assistance in any way he could.

"Did you ever resent the time he didn't spend with you and your son?" Noah asked, hoping to get her mind on something different.

"Oh, no," she denied. "Jon was this way when I met him, and I had no desire to change him. He was a drummer in a rock band, and sometimes the whole band would spend weekends with the homeless finding ways to minister to their needs."

"Do you know if your husband had any dark hobbies?" Gibbs asked.

"I'm not sure what you mean," she admitted, a confused expression marring her otherwise flawless face. Noah turned the full force of his smile toward her. "Were any of his friends Goth, or did they imagine themselves to be vampires, or have some other fascination with things like that?" he rephrased Gibbs' question.

"Well, I'm not certain," she began. "Like I mentioned before, he knew all kinds of people." They could see a flicker of something behind her eyes, but she successfully guarded her thoughts from Noah.

"Did he ever mention a man by the name of Cyrus Bocelli?" Noah asked.

Ms. Montgomery gave him a sideways look, surprise registering on her face. "Cyrus is a good friend of Jon's. Are you saying…?"

"There's no reason to be alarmed, Ms. Montgomery," Noah soothed. "We're just gathering information. Cyrus is a friend, and I think he may be able to help."

"Callie," Gibbs began with a smile. "Before this happened, did you have any reason to believe your husband was still alive?"

Her tears began again, her shoulders softly trembling. "I never got to say goodbye," she said, her voice breaking.

"Ms. Montgomery?" Gibbs interrupted.

"I'm sorry," she said, regaining her composure. "My lack of closure left me with an unease in the pit of my stomach. And I've often felt a presence, like someone was watching me," she explained. "Last week I received an email from Jon," she said. "I know it sounds crazy, and I didn't think it was him at first. He said he wanted me and Brogan back. I replied as if it were a crank email, and hoped not to hear from him again. Since that time, I've received several messages, the last of which included a threat to take Brogan if I didn't agree to meet him. I hadn't yet decided how to respond. When I awoke this morning, Brogan was gone," she finished, still crying.

"Do you mind if we take your computer back to our offices so we can try to trace the origin of the messages?" Gibbs asked politely.

"That's fine," she agreed without hesitation. "Like I said, anything that will get my son back."


	46. Chapter 46

Chapter 46

"What do you got, Abs?" Gibbs asked as he walked into the forensics lab.

"Perfect timing, as usual," Abby said conspiratorially. "The 911 recording is your standard distress call. Everything lines up with what Ms. Montgomery has already reported. Actually, everything we've pulled from the computer has confirmed what she reported as well."

"So why was my visit so timely, Abs?" Gibbs asked. "You do have something I don't already know…?"

"Oh ye of little faith, Boss," Abby said with a smile. "Gunnery Sergeant John Montgomery is a vampire. His emails hinted of him finding a way to come back from the dead, but he wanted to explain it to his wife in person. She, of course, isn't cooperating because she thinks it's a hoax," Abby explained.

"And…" Gibbs pulled her back on track.

"And, Noah is on his way to see Cyrus Bocelli, who is most likely Montgomery's master. According to the emails, it appears Montgomery doesn't intend any harm, he is just using his son to get his wife to listen to him," Abby continued.

"You don't think it could hurt a kid to see his dead Dad seven months after the funeral, Abs?" Gibbs asked.

"Well, of course," she said apologetically.

"McGee; take this computer back to Ms. Montgomery, and bring her down here. I want her here when Noah gets back with her husband," Gibbs ordered.

"On it boss," he said as he began to gather the Montgomery computer.

"Anyone heard from Sullivan?" Gibbs asked.

Abby smirked. "Nothing here," she admitted with a smile. Abby thought she caught the hint of a smile as Gibbs quickly left the room.

---

After searching the area surrounding the house many times over, Maggie was still unable to pick up the scent of the vampire who abducted Brogan. Because he played there everyday, Brogan's scent was everywhere, but none of the trails led off the property. After enough time had expired, she retreated to the secluded place where she had stashed her clothes and transformed back into her human form. She quickly shrugged into her clothes, picked up her cell phone and called the office.

"Gibbs," he answered.

"Hey, I need a ride," Maggie said with a chuckle.

"McGee's on his way over there, you can catch a ride back with him," Gibbs said. "Find anything?"

"No, which is beyond strange," Maggie said. "Even if a crime hadn't been committed, tracks can't be covered to the point that I can't pick them up. There has to be some sort of vampiric power preventing me from tracking him," Maggie continued in frustration.

"Just get back here," he said as he hung up the phone.

Maggie smiled at his gruff manner. Most people didn't know how to take him when he was like this, but his "case-face" was part of his charm, as far as she was concerned. Of course, it was difficult to see a person's flaws when you loved them completed. And she loved him more than she ever thought she could.

Maggie heard the car pull into the driveway and quickly joined McGee as he approached the Montgomery house. If it appeared they arrived together, they could avoid a lot of questions.

"Find anything?" he asked.

"I could ask you the same thing," Maggie answered with a smile. "But, no; nothing."

Tim smiled at her as she rang the doorbell.

---

Noah stepped off the elevator with an entourage of men Gibbs could only assume were fellow vampires and one small child.

"Boss, meet Jonathan and Brogan Montgomery," Noah said in introduction. The small boy looked confused, but not scared, standing next to the father he had believed was dead.

Gibbs focused his attention on the boy. "Brogan, your mom has been really worried about you," he said kindly.

"Is she here?" he asked with a hopeful expression.

"Just around the corner," Gibbs said with a smile, as he led the boy into the conference room.

Callie Montgomery was sitting in the conference room alone, trying to rein in her thoughts which kept straying to various versions of terrible things that could be happening to her little boy. Special Agent Gibbs had promised her they knew where to find him, but she didn't trust that easily. She would believe it when she saw Brogan again. She shook her head in frustration. If she wasn't so cynical and had taken the time to respond to the emails that were supposedly from her husband, she might still have her son with her. Fresh tears sprang again from her soft blue eyes as she began to cry for about the hundredth time since she discovered Brogan was missing earlier that morning. She spun her head quickly toward the door as it opened.

"Agent Gibbs, is there any… Brogan!" her expression and voice changed simultaneously when she saw her son's precious face.

"Mommy!" he said as he ran into her arms. "Daddy's here," he told her excitedly.


	47. Chapter 47

Chapter 47

The scene that unfolded was not what anyone expected. Callie Montgomery stood with as much grace as she could muster, took her son by the hand and walked out of the interrogation room without a backward glance. Jon stood dumfounded, unable to process what he had seen. He had taken so many risks, tackled countless odds, and the woman he had treasured for so many years was still refusing to hear what he had to say.

"Callie, will you at least talk to me? Let me explain?" Jon asked tortured.

She walked on past without stopping. To the casual observer, she seemed unaffected by the appearance of her dead husband. To the trained investigator, it was obvious she was shaken. Gibbs crossed to intercept them before they could make their way to the elevator.

"Ms. Montgomery," he said politely, "I'd be happy to keep an eye on Brogan if you would like a private word with your husband." The look of relief that she gave him spoke volumes.

"Thank you, Agent Gibbs," she said softly as she turned to her son. "Baby, I need you to stay with Special Agent Gibbs and wait for Mommy," she said as she brushed his hair back from his brow with gentle hands. She kissed him on the forehead.

"Okay, Mommy," Brogan answered with a smile.

---

As soon as they were out of their young son's line of sight, Callie's composure began to crack. Jon put his hand on her shoulder just as she began to cry. She shrugged his hand off, and went into the conference room. After following her into the room, he shut the door behind him. Before he could reach her, she rounded on him and began to rant.

"Jonathan Montgomery, I cannot believe that you actually went through with this!! I told you so many times that I was against it, and that I didn't think our son would recover, and you still did it!"

"Callie, honey, I just wasn't ready to give you up," he pleaded.

"Jonathan!" she interrupted him. "When you first told me about this vampire thing, I told you I didn't want to keep you if that was the only way! I explained to you, very thoroughly, that I didn't want to have to share you with anyone else, didn't want our son to be confused or hurt, didn't want to grow old while you stayed the same, and I didn't want to BE with a vampire!" Her chest rose and fell as she tried to catch her breath.

"Why are you treating me like I am some kind of stranger?" Jon questioned.

"Because I was hoping you would take a hint, Jon!" she continued angrily.

"I just want to be with you and Brogan," he protested.

"I love you, Jon, I really do," she insisted. "But I am not comfortable with this. I told you that if you did this, you would get this result and you didn't listen!"

"So you're just being stubborn?" he asked incredulously.

"No, Jon," she said as she tossed her arms up in frustration. "I'm keeping my word. I wasn't just talking to hear the sound of my voice. I thought this through and made my decision. I thought we were in agreement," she jabbed him in the chest with her finger as she continued. "You are the one who changed the rules. You are the one who did what you had promised you wouldn't do. And then YOU took my SON from me!"

"Our son!" he corrected.

"You're DEAD!" she shouted. "I'm sorry, Jon," Callie continued as tears began streaming down her cheeks. "I'm sorry you were killed. I loved you. I miss you. But I can't keep you. Not like this."

"But Callie…" he began.

"Just go away. Stay away from me, and stay away from Brogan," she said determinedly as she pushed past him and left the room.

---

Maggie caught Noah's eye and motioned for him to join her. He crossed to the corner of the room, and she briefed him on the nature of the meeting between the Montgomerys.

"So he didn't need to explain why he was 'alive', but had to explain why he went against her wishes?" Noah clarified. Maggie nodded affirmatively. After sending DiNozzo to take Callie and Brogan home, Gibbs joined them.

"So now what, Noah?" he asked.

"We'll take care of him," Noah said compassionately. "This does happen. People think our way of life is a way to make a relationship last forever. But if both aren't sure of the idea, it can be a recipe for a miserable eternity."

"See to it," Gibbs said.

As Noah and the entourage of vampires who had come in with Jonathan Montgomery left, Maggie caught the look Jonathan gave Gibbs. It was as if he was blaming his wife's behavior on him because he led the investigation.

---

The more she learned about vampire politics, the more Ziva regretted ever having been pulled into this preternatural hell that her life had become. Noah was exactly the kind of man she could be with forever. She chuckled to herself. Forever meant something different to him than it did to her. And Roy… Roy was a sweet beginning to something that could never be. How was she supposed to do this? Maybe she should just hook up with Tony. Lord knows, he'd been trying hard enough. She smiled at the thought. Maybe that was just what this situation needed.

"McGee, did you say Tony invited you to go somewhere this evening?" Ziva asked.

"Um, well, he mentioned there was this, uh, gathering of sorts taking place…" McGee began.

Ziva chuckled. "When and where, Tim?" She smiled as he rattled off the information. "You aren't going, are you?" she asked him.

"No; Abby and I have plans," he explained.

"Good," she said with a secretive grin.


	48. Chapter 48

Chapter 48

"Please, Tim, just one more time," Abby begged.

"Abby, stop whining. It was only forty minutes. You were in the sun longer on Maggie's birthday than we were this morning," McGee responded.

"But I stayed in the shade then, Tim!" Abby whined. "I can't believe I have a sunburn. I hate the sun, Timmy!"

"I know, Abby," he said sympathetically as he picked up the soothing gel to rub all over her again. As the cool ointment touched her skin she sighed in relief.

"Thank you, Timmy," she said softly, her lips in a pout.

"You know I can't resist you," he replied.

"Yeah, you proved that this morning," Abby huffed.

"Abs! You can't blame me for your sunburn," Tim complained.

"Sure I can," Abby disagreed with a smirk.

"Do you want me to do this, or not?" McGee asked, sitting back away from her.

"Rub, Tim!" she ordered.

He smiled as he resumed ministering the ointment to her very mild burn. You would think she had spent all day in the sun, the way she whined.

"Tim, can I say something?" she asked.

"Could I stop you if I wanted to?" he replied.

"I'm being serious!" she erupted.

"It's okay, hun," Tim soothed her. "It's what some people on this planet call 'humor'. A joke. I would love to hear what you have to say."

Abby rolled over to allow him access to her stomach and the rest of her sunburned body. She smiled into his face, meeting his gaze with sincerity. "I really love you," she said.

"Ummm… I love you, too," Tim parroted, not understanding how this was different from any of the other times she had said those words.

"I mean LOVE love you," she explained. "I'm in love with you." At his continued look of confusion she just shook her head. "Never mind, Tim."

"I've always been in love with you, Abby," Tim began speaking. "When we first met, I wanted what you didn't. When you pushed me away, I knew that while we were good together and you liked me, it wasn't the same. It wasn't okay for a while, and then it was. I mean, Abby, you're incredible. I always wanted you, and stared at you, and thought about you, and was jealous of other people with you and…"

Abby interrupted with a chuckle, "I get your point, Tim."

"But when you decided you wanted me, not just a stolen night from time to time but the whole package, I was stunned. Abby Scuito, I love you more than you can even imagine."

Abby reached up and grabbed his head and pulled him down toward her, as she rose slightly from her lying position to meet him halfway. Their lips met sweetly; softly; slowly. But the mood quickly became fevered as they began to make love.

"Tim, will you move in with me?" Abby asked when she was lying in his arms breathing heavily, having just completely made his day. His smile lit up the room.

"I was thinking you could move in with me," he suggested.

"Tim! Your place is too small," she protested. "My coffin won't fit in your bedroom!"

---

Ziva rolled over and stretched. The morning sun that was streaming through the windows warmed her face. She smiled, remember the night before. "Tony?" she called out, as she rolled over. He was no longer lying beside her, and wasn't in the room or the bathroom. She shrugged her shoulders and made her way to the shower. The events from the night before played through her mind.

_The navy blue sheath dress Ziva chose showed her figure to its fullest; low back, low neckline, high hemline. The silk material hugged her skin flatteringly. The dress was stunning enough for evening wear, but casual enough to crash a more informal gathering, which was her plan. She slipped her feet into her heels, confirmed that her carry weapon wasn't noticeable, and left her apartment on a mission._

_When she first made eye contact with him she saw his smile, which she returned. She knew the moment he noticed her dress. His expression went blank, his eyes darkened and he began to cross the room toward him._

"_Good evening, Tony," she said flirtatiously._

"_What brings you here, Ziva?" he asked, his eyes still not having made their way back to her face._

_She placed her hand gently under his chin and raised his gaze to meet hers._

"_You," she answered simply._

"_Heh. Heh," he chuckled, unsurely. "Well, what can I say," he began to speak brashly. "When you got it, you got it."_

_She smiled seductively at him, and then dropped her eyes, allowing him to see her checking out his body._

"_Looking good, DiNozzo," she said._

"_So one kiss wasn't enough?" he asked cockily._

_She chuckled. "Never," she answered, pulling his mouth down to hers._

Ziva shook the thoughts from her mind as she rinsed the soap from her hair and body. She couldn't believe she had seduced Tony. I hadn't solved anything. If anything, she had made things worse. Now she was torn between three men she cared for. She stepped out of the shower and toweled off, wrapped her hair in the towel, and slipped into her robe. She left the bathroom and made her way through the apartment.

"Tony?" she called.

"In here!" she heard his voice in the kitchen, just as she smelled exactly what he'd been up to. She walked into her kitchen to find Tony, naked, making breakfast. "Good morning," he said with a smile. She laughed out loud.

---

"Are you sure, Jethro?" Director Shepard asked him. She had called him into the office on Saturday because she had gotten a report about a suspected terrorist cell that had been previously unknown to them.

He just stared at her. "Of course you're sure," she answered her own question.

"I called Diamond; he's should be here any minute," Gibbs responded. As if on cue, a knock sounded at the door to the Director's office.

"Come in," Jenny said.

After briefing Noah on the situation, Gibbs excused himself. Jen was running this op, and Noah would be her undercover. He didn't need to be involved, she had told him. He shrugged his shoulders as he left the office. He had better things to do with a day off, anyway.

---

Gibbs moved the blanket three inches further to the right, added a third throw pillow, lit two more candles, and then double-checked the wine to make sure everything was perfect. He chuckled to himself, surprised at his own nervousness. He ran his hands down the front of his pants, smoothing out any wrinkles, and then made his way upstairs. She should be here at any moment.

Maggie smiled as she pushed the door open without knocking. His place had become as much home to her as hers, and vice-versa. "Hey, you," she said.

"Hey yourself," he replied sexily, taking in her white tank and light blue miniskirt. "You look great."

"Thanks," she said with a smile, slipping her sandals off at the door to maneuver his house barefoot, as she preferred to be. "You look fabulous," she said.

"Ah," he said with the nod of his head. "A mutual admiration society." They looked into one another's eyes, and then he pulled her into his arms and kissed her deeply. She moaned and melted into his arms. He threaded his fingers through her hair and pulled her even more tightly to him.

"I love you," he said.

"I love you, too," she replied.

He released her, and then took her by the hand and led her to the basement. Maggie gasped at what she saw. He led her to the blanket and sat beside her. They shared champagne, strawberries, chocolate and great conversation. Maggie couldn't remember when they had shared a better evening. She looked into Jethro's blue eyes, almost lost in how much she cared for him. She noticed his expression had changed. She could hear that his heart rate had quickened, and his breathing had become shallower. Just as she was about to ask what was wrong, she looked down. He was holding out in front of her the simplest, but most beautiful diamond ring she had ever seen. Tears sprang to her eyes as a smile split her face.

"So, will ya?" he asked.

"Will I what?" she taunted.

He sighed, "Will you play tennis with me tomorrow?" he asked sarcastically. "What do you think?" he smiled. "Will you marry me?" he asked sincerely.

"Yes, of course," she answered. "Nothing would make me happier."


	49. Chapter 49

Chapter 49

McGee awoke slowly, stretched and stepped into the bathroom to begin his morning routine. He could hear Abby in the other room on the phone, and smiled. Once the essentials were taken care of, he decided to surprise her. He tiptoed around the corner and was about to surprise her, when he got a shock of his own.

"Are you serious? A fifth marriage for the bossman? Abby queried in a soft voice, clearly amused. She twirled around in delight, and then froze when she saw McGee. "Gotta go," she said as she hung up.

"Umm… How long have you been standing there?" she asked.

"Long enough," he admitted. "Gibbs is getting married?"

"Tim," Abby began in a warning tone, "you can't tell anyone about this. No one."

"Uh.. okay," Tim answered.

"I'm serious," Abby continued. "Cross your heart and hope to die."

"I'm not gonna…" he began.

"Cross it!" Abby commanded. Tim rolled his eyes as he made a criss-cross over his heart.

"Cross my heart, Abby, I won't say a word," he promised with a sigh. "So, what are you doing today?"

"I'm going to church, McGee," she answered simply. "What about you?"

"I'm supposed to meet Tony, Noah and Ziva," he said. "Remember, everyone was invited," he explained.

"Oh, yeah, the golf thing. I don't do the outdoors, Tim," Abby reminded him.

"I know," he said as he kissed her good morning.

---

"Noah, thank you for driving," Tony said, tossing Ziva a glance in the back seat. "There are some places where I don't think letting her lead is a good idea."

Ziva gave Tony a dirty look. "That's not what you said last night," she teased.

Noah's hands clenched the steering wheel. He knew exactly what she was doing, but it didn't help. "Ziva, we all know you and Tony had sex last night, can you not rub it in my face?" he asked, getting right to the point.

Tony grimaced, and turned his head away to look out the passenger window.

"So, is Maggie joining us?" McGee asked, trying to change the subject.

"No," Noah answered. "She's with Jeff this weekend. Of course," he added.

"Did you hear from Gibbs?" Noah asked Tony.

"Actually, I didn't," Tony admitted.

"I don't think he'd be interested," Tim chuckled, and then suddenly looked very guilty.

"Why not, Tim?" Ziva asked, leaning closer toward him in the back seat.

"What do you know, Probie?" Tony asked.

"Uh…er… um… nothing, really," Tim stammered. "I just meant that he probably didn't want to spend his weekend with the same people he sees all week."

"This outing was originally his idea, Probie," Tony pressed. "Now, spill it."

"I can't… I don't…"

"McGee!" Tony, Ziva and Noah all shouted at the same time.

"Okay, okay…" he surrendered. "Gibbs is getting married again," he said. "And Abby's gonna kill me," he added under his breath.

"What?!" Tony said. "Oh no, no, no… Who?"

"I honestly don't know," McGee said.

"Well, we have to put a stop to this," Tony said. "Diamond, let's go to Gibbs' place."

Noah cocked an eyebrow as he wheeled around to go back the way they came. "I'm a little curious myself," he admitted.

---

"I can't wait to wake up beside you every morning," Gibbs said as leaned over to kiss Maggie awake. She responded to him automatically, moving to allow him better access to her mouth. She whimpered. He chuckled. "Again?" he asked. "I don't know if I'll survive another marriage," he joked.

"You better," she threatened teasingly, as she slid out of the bed and rushed to the bathroom.

He chuckled. "I'll make coffee," he said.

"I'll grab a shower and be right out," she called out.

Jethro Gibbs walked into the kitchen and put on a pot of coffee. He got the mugs out of the cabinet, as he heard Maggie shut the shower off. He was just preparing to pour the coffee, when he heard someone at the door.

"Can I help you, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked, jerking the door open. Ziva was momentarily taken aback. It was strange to see her boss shirtless, barefoot and wearing only a pair of unfastened jeans. Her mouth went dry and she took a moment to catch her breath. Wow. She knew her boss was attractive, but she hadn't realized exactly to what extent. Noah smacked her on the back of the head, Gibbs style, and gave her a smirk. She grinned.

"Hey, boss," Tony responded, as he pushed past him and into the house. The others followed suit.

"What's going on, Tony?" Gibbs asked in frustration.

"Nothing, boss, we thought you wanted to golf with us today," Tony explained. "Mmmm… coffee," he sniffed the air. "May I?" he asked.

"I have company, Tony," he replied, taking the mug back out of Tony's hand.

"I knew it," Tony said as he made his way toward the master bedroom.

"DiNozzo!" Gibbs shouted.

Listening to her fiancé try to juggle Tony and the rest of the team, Maggie quickly towel-dried her hair, and pulled on underwear and a robe. She chuckled as she decided to go ahead and put Tony out of his misery. She walked down the hall past a speechless Tony and into the kitchen. The entire team sat slack jawed as she walked into Gibbs' embrace. He pulled her to him and kissed her deeply. Gibbs almost forgot his entire team was watching, until he heard Maggie chuckle in the back of her throat. He pulled away with a sideways smile on his face.

"Hey everybody," Maggie said with a smile. "Meet Jeff."

Noah shook his head. "I can't believe I didn't know," he said.

"So, you're getting married?" McGee asked. Maggie held up the ring. Ziva instantly grabbed her hand.

"I know diamonds," she said, "and that is gorgeous. Congratulations," she added with a smile.

"Thank you, Ziva," Maggie said with a grin.

"Tony, now that you've satisfied your curiosity, could you leave so I can get on with my Sunday?" Gibbs asked.

"Sure boss," he said with a grin as they filed back out. Mission accomplished.

---

They were closing in on the eleventh hole, when their camaraderie was interrupted by the ringing of Noah's phone.

"On my way," he said. Noah tossed his keys to Ziva, "I gotta run," he said. "You can either take the car home with you, or you can take it to my house and one of the girls could give you a ride home."

Tony raised his hand, "I could take it to your house and let one of the girls take me home." Noah and Ziva both gave him dirty looks. "Just kidding," he muttered, almost jokingly.

Noah rushed off the course, calling for a car.

"I wonder what that's about," Ziva said curiously.

"I didn't think you cared," McGee commented.

"I don't," she lied.

---

**A/N: If you don't want to read the sequel, consider this the end of the story. The next chapter is completely related to the Noah/Jen undercover op, and ends with a cliffhanger. The sequel is called A Dance in the Dark. The part that is written is already posted, but it is still a work in progress and is moving along quite slowly right now. I apologize for any inconvenience.**


	50. Chapter 50

Chapter 50

Noah entered the restaurant and immediately identified his contact sitting at the bar. Barely acknowledging her presence, he approached the maitre d' with his most charming smile. "A table for two, please," he intoned. "Somewhat private, if possible," he added, hinting at a possible romantic nature of his meeting.

"Do you have a reservation?" the employee asked, somewhat embarrassed as he gauged Noah to be an important person, by his demeanor.

"The name's Cort Mathews," he provided, the lie rolling easily from his tongue.

The man checked his list before continuing, "Why yes, Mr. Mathews, right this way," he said as he motioned for a lesser host to take his place and seated him personally. "If there is anything we can do while you wait, sir, please do not hesitate to ask."

"Thank you," Noah replied dismissively.

The lady at the bar turned sideways on her stool, several inches of leg peeking out from the slit in her long, brown skirt. Noah allowed his gaze to trace her body from toe upward, slowing as he took in the hint of cleavage she had decided to show when she had chosen not to fasten the top three buttons of her white blouse, and even longer when his gaze traveled higher. Her long, black hair was falling over the right side of her body, exposing her neck on the left side. Even from this distance he could see her pulse pounding. He licked his lips, and felt his body responding sexually to the thought of having a true lunch with his contact. But he knew the rules. You shouldn't play with your food. Not if she doesn't initiate it. And besides, she couldn't be food anyway – he was working.

When his eyes finally made their way to hers, she was already staring at him. She smiled seductively at him. After all, it's not every day an obviously wealthy, extremely attractive man notices you in the way he had just noticed her. And he hadn't exactly tried to hide his interest. Noah raised his glass of champagne, and an eyebrow, as he motioned toward the empty chair across from him.

She smiled, as she stood and crossed the room to join him. He stood and pulled out the chair for her, pushing it in behind her as she sat.

She turned to smile at him, "Thank you, Mr…?"

"Mathews; Cort Mathews," he introduced himself. "And you are…?" he returned her question with a grin.

"Sophie Hart," she answered, her dark eyes shining with undisguised interest. Of course, he knew she was lying. The pheromones weren't the only advantage to sending a vampire undercover. Her real name was Sonya Harvey, and she was an undercover FBI agent turned traitor whose loyalties lay with Al Qaeda. But he played along.

---

Back at the NCIS offices, in MTAC, Director Jennifer Shepard watched the scene in the restaurant unfold with a smile. When you've got it, you've got it. And Agent Diamond definitely had it. Her smile quickly faded when she saw something that had the potential to blow their whole operation out of the water. Roy Sanders had just entered the restaurant.

"Noah," she spoke, knowing he could hear through his ear wig. "Sanders just walked in. You have to get out of there. Fast," she added as she saw the younger man notice Noah. "Dang, he's made you," she said. "I'm coming down there to back you up," she said as she secured her weapon and quickly left MTAC. She called Gibbs and Fornell for backup on the way, and prayed this would turn out. They couldn't afford for this operation to backfire.

---

Noah quickly excused himself from the table and intercepted Sanders before Sonya saw him. Or so he hoped. He led Roy into the lobby and began speaking to him in hushed tones. Roy shook his head, not quite understanding what Noah was saying.

"It's not a date, Roy, and you aren't stupid," Noah explained. "Stop trying to figure me out, and let me get back to work." Not realizing how much Roy had perceived his operation as betrayal, and not expecting the younger vampire to defy him, Noah didn't bother to explain the details of his motives. What he didn't count on was that Roy's feelings for Ziva had grown stronger than his fear for him.

---

Director Shepard walked into the lobby of the restaurant just in time to see Sanders approaching Diamond's table. Darn! Without even hesitating when the maitre d' called her name, she moved quickly to join them, hoping to diffuse the situation before too much damage was done.

"Master, I know it isn't acceptable for me to disagree with you but you specifically gave me license to fight with you for Ziva's hand. On even ground," Roy said, not backing down.

Sonya looked from one man to the other in confusion, not yet grasping what was going on.

"Your employees call you Master?" she asked incredulously.

"Only the overly eager ones," he insisted. It was at that moment that Jenny Shepard reached the table. Noah knew the instant she arrived, because Sonya recognized her. She immediately moved to step away from the table.

"Get her out of here and keep an eye on her," Noah ordered Roy, wanting to make sure the Director was protected, as he went after their target. The operation could still be kept from backfiring, although their prior initiative would now be impossible.

Roy grabbed Jenny by the arm and led her out of the restaurant, just as Fornell was arriving.

"My car is over here," she motioned him to the correct vehicle, Roy taking the drivers' seat. Noah appeared right behind them, their traitorous terrorist in tow. He opened the back door and ushered her inside.

"We need to get back to the NCIS offices," Noah told Roy as calmly as possible. "Preferably before her backup arrives," he added, wanting Sanders to hurry.

Gibbs pulled his car in next to Fornell's. The two men and Maggie stood just outside the vehicles, watching Noah and the young FBI agent climb into Jenny's car. Weapons were drawn, as the searched the area for any signs of possible backup for Harvey. The sound they heard next would haunt each of them for years to come.

Roy Sanders cranked the key in the ignition. Unfortunately, the engine wasn't what fired into life, but the bomb that had been planted in Shepard's car.

THE END


End file.
